For the love of that Steel Heart
by Frostfire613
Summary: Hariel, after the defeat of Voldemort and her recent graduation at Hogwarts, was at a loss of what to do with her life. Too bad Fate could never stay out of her affairs... Fem!Harry. FemHarry/Steven Stone
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I had written this out quite a while ago and thought I should post it. Hope you like it!**

* * *

Hariel looked out her window in discontent. She had just turned 19 not to long after she fully finished her schooling at Hogwarts. Thankfully at school she was mostly left alone except for the few younger students who all wanted autographs from the Girl-Who-Lived. Now that she graduated, the Auror Division had already sent out an invitation to join them along with the Unspeakables.

What she truly wanted was a quiet life where she didn't have to be worried about being recognized in fear of being mobbed by either fans or reporters. While Ron and Hermione were fine with using their new celebrity statuses as part of the Golden Trio to further their dreams and careers, it wasn't what Hariel wanted. Besides, with their new budding professions, the two hardly ever had the time to speak anymore. Which she understood, but it didn't stop her from feeling out of place when her two friends could move on but she was still stuck in the past.

She wanted change. She wanted a new life where nobody recognized who she was and where everyone would know her as just Hariel.

"You look lonely for someone who is world famous for defeating one of the most nefarious Dark Lords in history," a smooth female voice said.

Hariel immediately turned around with her wand in hand.

"Who are you?" Hariel demanded, keeping her eye on the mysterious woman who suddenly appeared in the middle of her living room.

"I'm Fate."

"No really, who are you?" Hariel asked with a wary tone.

"You may not believe me, but I really am as I say," the woman shrugged. "Now then. I heard your wish. You want to go to a place where no one could possibly recognize you. A place where you'd be acknowledged for your own merits rather than fame, fortune, or family name."

When Hariel stayed silent but glared at the woman for hitting the nail right on the head.

"I'll grant it for you," the woman said with a smile.

"Let's say that I believe you," Hariel said with narrowed eyes. "What would be the catch?"

"No catch this time. You've fulfilled my prophecy. In return I can give you a new chance at life. It's not like I'm giving you immortality or anything," Fate said with another shrug. "I'll give you 30 minutes to write some goodbye letters before I send you off."

Without another word, Fate disappeared.

Hariel stood there stunned before scrambling to write said letters. It didn't seem like Fate (if that was who she really was) was going to give her a choice and she'd rather leave some sort of explanation behind for Hermione and Ron rather than them thinking she'd been kidnapped…even though that was kind of what was actually happening. But something in her gut made her excited for something new.

The 30 minute timer soon ended just as she signed her name on Ron's letter before she felt herself go weak.

Then it was black.

* * *

Hariel groaned when she woke up in a cave.

A cave of all things.

Looking around, she spotted a campfire, a green backpack, and a surprisingly comfortable navy blue sleeping bag she was lying on.

Instead of the simple white nightgown she had been wearing prior to being transported, she now wore a black jacket with green lining and a furred collar, a grey cowl collar shirt, dark blue skinny jeans, a black belt with red and white ball charms on it, and brown hiker boots.

All in all, it wasn't a bad outfit to wear when she was now apparently camping in the middle of nowhere.

Having nothing better to do while she got her bearings, she decided to have a look through her pack to see what Fate packed for her.

She dumped out all of the contents and laid it out before her. More books than she thought, but perhaps Fate had a reason for them. There was a book on First Aid, a book on Pokémon Care, an Introduction to being a Pokémon Trainer/Coordinator/Performer guide, a guide book to Foods and Herbs in the Wild, a book of Pokémon, a water bottle, a GPS device, a tourist guide book to the Hoenn region, a picture of a Victorian style manor, and 8 block device things that she had no idea what they were for.

The last two things that popped out of the bag was a wallet and a letter.

Snatching the letter up, Hariel could feel a headache coming on when she read the contents.

She had been sent to the world of Pokémon. No wonder the word sounded familiar. It was a game that Dudley got really into before he quit because he couldn't defeat the last boss or something. She had also once caught Dudley watching the cartoon show about Pokémon during the summer when it was too hot to go out.

All the supplies she would need to get started were in the capsules (the cube block device things she found) and they were color coordinated depending on what kind of things they contained. Red for First Aid, green for camping and cooking supplies, blue for water, yellow for food, pink for hygiene and grooming products and tools, purple for clothes, black for miscellaneous, and white for Moo Moo Milk. She thought the last one was odd but she wasn't going to question the use for a milk capsule after being sent to a different dimension where it was a mere video game back in her world.

The capsules were used as storage devices meant for travelers. It worked like an undetectable extension charm and would keep the food inside fresh indefinitely and in the form they were deposited in. So she could put in popsicles or ice cream into the capsule and not have to worry about it melting away.

Her identification was in her wallet and any story she came up with to explain her appearance and background would automatically alter her history and identification.

Her magic was now wandless as Psychics (the real ones rather than the muggle phonies) existed in this world. Since Psychics were widely known for their range of mysterious and unknown powers, any magic she could do would be chalked up to her being born as a psychic. Apparently 0.01% of the population were psychics in some form or another.

All her family's fortune (except for the gold she deposited for Teddy's trust fund) including the Black fortune had all been transferred into this world's currency. The knowledge of having the Black fortune made her curse, for she hadn't yet transferred the vaults to Teddy and Andromeda like she had planned to.

 **(In the game, they use Pokémon Dollars and in the Anime, they use yen. For the sake of the story and since this will be taking place in the anime with only a hint of game elements, the currency will be yen.)**

Fate decided to do the math for her. One gold galleon in her world was worth 5 pounds to make them affordable to muggleborns. Five British Pounds was approximately 800 yen (or 7 US dollars (as of 2016)).

She knew that both the Potter Family and Black Family were Ancient Noble House, which meant they had a lot of wealth to fall back on.

At least she knew she wouldn't be broke here assuming you could probably buy a can of soda for about 200 yen or something along those lines. She wouldn't know until she found some sort of supermarket to compare dimension prices.

All her family's belongings were also put into her house, which was the picture of the manor. At least she had a clear image in her head of where she would need to apparate to if she ever wanted to go home, which was most likely the purpose of the photo in the first place.

Hariel sighed and decided to get started on reading so she could get a foothold in this world.

Her backstory was a bit vague, so she hoped that Fate would be kind to her to fix any holes in her story.

She decided to go with the fact that her parents had died in an accident when she was a baby, so she was raised by her grandmother. Nearing her 10th birthday, when aspiring trainers/coordinators/performers were allowed to leave for their journey (seriously, who let's 10 year old kids out into the world on their own? Hariel supposed the world could be safer than it was back in her old dimension), her grandmother fell ill. Rather than go on her journey, she had decided to stay and take care of her grandmother who passed away a few years later when Hariel was 18. After getting her affairs together, she decided to go on her journey at last, albeit late, as per her grandmother's last wishes.

She was now supposed to be heading for Littleroot Town to get her first pokémon.

Which was why she was travelling now.

Feeling another headache coming in with the influx of information, Hariel decided to take a break and explore her surroundings. She wouldn't go far from the cave, but she pack up everything just in case. She didn't want to be robbed or anything.

After putting out the campfire, she headed out. Thanks to the watch provided for her, she deduced that it was mid-afternoon. She could afford to spend an hour or two exploring before heading back to the cave to plan out her route better.

* * *

It wasn't an even an hour later until she ran into some sort of trouble. Up ahead saw some sort of white dog-cat thing with a black sickle shaped horn growing from its head. The dog-cat was being cornered by a man with a net and three creatures she assumed were his pokémon.

"Just come quietly and ya won't be hurt! Don't you know that your species sell for a lot in good condition?" the man growled. "If you come quietly, I promise I'll sell ya to just some rich lady instead of the underground battle rings!"

Hariel observed the situation. From what she had heard, the white dog-cat was apparently either rare or in high demand, and the man was some sort of illegal poacher like the ones back home where they would take down elephants for their coveted ivory tusks.

"Absol!" the white dog-cat growled before swinging its head at the man, causing white blades of energy to fly at him with the intent to harm.

"Scizor, Iron Defense!" the man ordered and the red humanoid bug flew in front of the man and gained a blue aura and briefly gave a metallic shine before meeting the attack head on.

Whatever the white dog-cat did didn't seem like it did much to the red bug.

"Now then, Rhydon, use Take Down!"

The bipedal rhino roared and started to stampede towards the creature. The creature's horn enlarged dramatically and glowed a bright green before it met the Rhydon halfway, actually throwing the other back.

Who knew such a small thing could pack so much power?

Even though it seemed like the white dog-cat could hold its own, 3 on one just wasn't fair at all.

"Hey you, what the hell are you doing?" Hariel demanded as she revealed herself.

The man turned around and sneered. "None of your business, girl! Stay out of the way!"

"No! Three on one isn't fair at all!" Hariel refuted and jogged closer.

"You don't even have any pokémon! What can you do to stop me, huh?" the man asked smugly. "Fearow, blow her away!"

"I don't need pokémon to stop you," Hariel snapped before she threw out her hands in a sweeping motion, using her raw magic to throw them away from the white dog-cat, who looked at her with surprise.

"What the?!" the man exclaimed with surprise as he was thrown back with his 3 other pokémon.

Hariel muttered a sleeping charm and concentrated her power within her hands. With a wave, the pokémon fell deep asleep.

"I-I get it! You're one of those freaky Psychics!" the man cowered, his confidence gone now that his three pokémon were asleep and virtually useless.

"Leave and never come back!" Hariel said and stood in front of the creature protectively. With a glance she spotted it favouring its left leg, which was probably why it was able to be cornered in the first place.

The man returned his pokémon to his pokéballs and ran for the hills, throwing Hariel a snide glare as he sped off.

Hariel sighed in relief before turning to the white dog-cat thing behind her.

"You should be safe now," Hariel said, crouching down to meet the creature's eyes.

"Absol," the animal said with a nod and Hariel could feel the gratitude mixed with wariness directed at her.

Huh…she had never been great at reading people, but maybe this whole psychic thing gave her some sort of empathetic abilities with pokémon and maybe people as well. Her first encounter with another human being hadn't exactly been a pleasant one.

"I'll be going now. Take care of that leg and try to stay out of trouble alright?" Hariel said with a gentle smile before getting up to walk back to her cave. With the encounter with the poacher, she decided to study up a bit more on pokémon. She could explore tomorrow.

Maybe she could look through her book of Pokémon. She had only skimmed through it but it seemed to give basic overviews of hundreds of pokémon. Maybe she could find out whatever the white dog was.

* * *

Okay, it was official, she was in love with Moo Moo Milk. The liquids she had in her life consisted of water, hot chocolate, pumpkin juice, butterbeer, a once trial of Firewhiskey, and tea. Occasionally she would use milk in her tea, but in general she found milk to be a bit plain tasting. It wasn't bold tasting like pumpkin juice.

But if Fate decided to give her a capsule just to hold Moo Moo Milk, it had to be worth a try. And it was. According to the book of Pokémon, it was a Miltank that provided the Moo Moo Milk. Its milk was highly nutritious and delicious to both humans and pokémon alike. Kids who drank it often would grow up to be healthy and strong. Moo Moo Milk also made delicious ice cream and yogurt.

There were also other fascinating products created by pokémon. Like honey and some rare fruits from Snover and Tropius.

Perhaps it was a message to eat healthy. Since she was going to be travelling a lot, she might as well be in shape to make the trip easier for herself.

Not to mention, when she was with the Dursleys, she had been underweight and a bit malnourished. It took nearly the entirety of her first year at Hogwarts to gain a proper weight for girls her age and height.

When it was getting dark, she started to get hungry. Looking at the screen on her food capsule, she mainly saw sandwiches. They would have to do for now.

As she lit her campfire, she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Absol," Hariel said with surprise.

She had only found out the name after giving her book of Pokémon a thorough search.

Absol was peeking around the entrance of the cave before its eyes settled on her.

"Absol, what are you doing here?" Hariel asked curiously.

"Absol sol!" the Dark Type said.

"You followed me?" Hariel asked, trying to get a read on the pokémon's emotions.

Absol nodded and slowly inched closer to her, still limping slightly.

"You're still hurt! Give me a moment!" Hariel said and looked through her bag for the first aid capsule. With a press of a button, a red spray bottle with an orange handle popped out. A Super Potion according to the First Aid guide. It was used to heal, bumps, bruises, scrapes, sprains, and small cuts.

With the spray bottle in hand, she slowly approached Absol.

"May I use this on your leg? It's medicine and it'll help," Hariel said gently.

Absol looked at her with searching eyes before nodding, watching her sharply as she applied the medicine to its leg.

It gave a sharp sting, but with a stretch of its leg, Absol could tell that it was healed.

"There you go," Hariel smiled before backing off.

Inwardly she sympathized with the Pokémon. According to her books, Absol could use their horn to sense the subtle changes within the land and sky to predict when a natural disaster would occur and would often try to warn people when one was approaching. Unfortunately this led themselves to be blamed of the impending natural disaster. People would often mistakenly accuse them of being doom bringers and symbols of misfortune.

It reminded her of her 5th year in Hogwarts. How when she and Dumbledore tried to spread the word that Voldemort was back, the people chose to ostracize them with the backing of the ministry and called them liars, choosing to remain ignorant of the situation at hand.

Hariel then pulled out some berries and a bowl of Moo Moo Milk for Absol in case it got hungry as she would continue to study about pokémon.

She could feel Absol watching her and it only stopped when it decided to take the offered meal.

When the moon was high in the sky, she decided to get some sleep. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she put out the campfire and settled into her sleeping bag.

In the middle of the night, she didn't notice Absol curl up beside her.

* * *

When Hariel woke up, she was pleasantly surprised to see Absol sleeping soundly beside her. Slowly inching out of the sleeping bag, she decided to prepare breakfast. Two slices of toast (toasted using a frying pan) with Pecha berry jam and a glass of Moo Moo Milk for herself, and Sitrus and Oran Berries with a bowl of Moo Moo Milk for Absol.

The capsules were incredibly convenient. It spouted out the Milk and Water like the muggle water fountains back in elementary school.

It made her wonder how she was going to refill them. The water was an easy fix since it purified water as it was stored, allowing her to refill from fresh water lakes or streams. The milk was another matter. Maybe she would figure it out when she visited a supermarket.

When she saw Absol stirring awake, Hariel settled the food and milk bowl down.

"Good Morning Absol. Thank you for keeping me company last night," Hariel smiled, making the pokémon give a bashful blush.

After eating together and packing up the campsite, Absol followed Hariel out of the cave.

"I see. Would you like to accompany me?" Hariel said, looking happy that she had already made a new friend.

"Absol!" Absol said happily.

"Now I know that I should have asked earlier, but are you male or female? Or perhaps you are neutral in gender?" Hariel wondered. "Female? _**(Shakes head)**_ Male? _**(Nods)**_ "

Hariel grinned.

"Now that that is settled, let's get going!"

* * *

Apparently Absol knew a way to get down from the mountain she was on. They would have to take a shortcut through another cave, but Absol was a great guide.

The cave was dark, but Hariel easily just pulled out a flashlight to help light the way. Within the cave, she could sense many different things, and found one of them wedged between two rocks on the ground. If it wasn't for her senses, she would have missed it completely. It was a crystal that looked to be made of water if that was possible.

It gave off a strange power so she decided to hold on to it for now. As they traveled through the cave, Hariel would occasionally pick up more of the strange stones if it was possible. Absol was more than happy to help out.

That was until she sensed something big in one of the large boulders to her left. It gave off the strange power that the crystallized water except it was much more powerful.

"Absol, could you break this stone here?" Hariel asked politely.

Absol gave her a questioning glance before his horn glowed a bright purple colour. With a swing of his head, he let loose a blade of crescent-shaped purple energy.

It was wicked powerful since it was able to smash through the rock with relative ease.

When the rock broke apart and the dust cleared, Hariel found a beautiful softly glowing and pale blue crystal half buried within the rubble. The witch picked up the stone and dusted it off gently, using a handkerchief to be able to see the shine of the stone more clearly.

Within the softly glowing stone was some sort of wave design in the middle. The little wave was pink with two green stripes on either side of pink stripe. It almost looked like the inside design of a cat's eye marble she had once snitched from Dudley when he received a bag of them for his 8th birthday.

Absol was looking at the crystal with awe.

"I wonder what this is…the power coming from this stone is incredible," Hariel said with awe before looking at Absol with a smile, "While we're still in this cave, want to explore to see if we can find even more of these?"

Absol nodded and the two of them searched out for more of the strange auras. She ended up with a couple more stones similar to the water stone she found, but it wasn't until they neared the end of cave chamber that they found another stone similar to the one she found earlier.

This one was also pale blue, but instead of the pink and green, it held the colours of orange and white.

"I wonder what these stones are for…" Hariel said before she followed Absol through another tunnel.

In the corner of the new chamber was a man picking away at the stone walls, trying to wedge out something.

"Aron!" a tiny white pokémon said when Hariel and Absol came into view.

"Hm?" the man said before turning around.

He was handsome, Hariel noticed immediately. He had light steel blue hair with a matching pair of eyes. His skin was fair, and he was rather tall. He wore his spelunking gear well, and Hariel could see the muscle tone on his arms. Age wise, she would have to guess that he was in his early to mid-twenties at the least. She passively wondered if he had dyed his hair.

"Oh hello, I didn't know that there was anyone else here," the man greeted politely.

From his eyes, Hariel gleaned no malicious or ill intent and relaxed slightly.

"Hello. Sorry to interrupt. I was just passing through with my friend, Absol," Hariel greeted back.

"No need to apologize. You did nothing wrong," the man said with a smile and walked towards her, holding out his hand.

Hariel immediately grasped it and gave it a firm shake, surprising the man a bit.

"Quite a grip you have there, interesting—huh?" the man cut off his speech when he spotted the softly glowing stone in Hariel's arms. "That's a Mega Stone!"

"Mega Stone? What's that?" Hariel asked as the man looked at the stone with awe.

"It's a special stone that when paired with a keystone can Mega Evolve certain pokémon for a short period of time, boosting their strength and ability drastically. Each pokémon require a specific Mega Stone, but a Keystone can be used to activate any Mega Stone," the man explained before he realized something, "Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Steven Stone, and here is my little friend, Aron."

"And my name is Hariel Evans and this is my friend, Absol," she greeted back, deciding to go with her mother's maiden name to truly get a new start.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Steven nodded with another stunning smile.

Polite and handsome. Back in Hogwarts, the girls would be all over this guy, Hariel thought.

"What pokémon does this Mega Stone evolve I wonder," Hariel said curiously.

"May I see it?" Steven asked and one could not mistake the excitement he held in his eyes.

"Of course," Hariel said and handed the stone over.

Steven took out a device and scanned the Mega Stone with it, widening his eyes when the results appeared on the screen.

"Incredible! This is a Metagrossite! I've been looking for months for one of these!" Steven exclaimed with excitement.

Hariel smiled slightly.

"What an incredible find," Steven said before handing it back, though his eyes shone with longing.

Hariel looked at the stone for a moment before pushing back into Steven's arms.

"You can keep it," Hariel smiled. "Consider it repayment for telling me about Mega Stones."

"This is too much!" Steven weakly protested, even though it was clear to her how much he wanted the stone.

"It's fine. It was by pure luck that I found it, and it would be a waste since I can't use it anyways," Hariel said, shrugging slightly.

Steven looked at her with gratitude before a thought came to him.

"How about this. It's close to dinner time so I'll treat you. Petalburg City is just down this mountain. That way we can get something to eat and I can get you something in return for giving me the Metagrossite!" Steven said with a smile more genuine than the polite one he gave before.

Seeing that Steven would probably not take no for an answer, she agreed.


	2. Chapter 2

Steven had taken her and Absol to a rather nice diner where she was able to get some tasty stew with a side of Sitrus Soda.

"Your Absol looks pretty strong. How long have you had him?" Steven asked curiously.

"Oh. I just met Absol yesterday. You see, I've just started my pokémon journey and I'm on my way to get my first pokémon from Professor Birch. Absol took a liking to me and decided to come along."

"Why did you start so late? Most start when they're 10," Steven asked in a slightly confused manner.

"My parents passed away when I was just a baby and my grandmother fell ill and weak when my 10th birthday came around. I stayed to care for her rather than go out on my journey. She passed away a few months ago and I've finally sorted out my affairs to start my journey like my grandmother wanted me to," Hariel said.

She felt bad for lying, but who would believe her real story? Then again, she could have just said that she had some family issues rather than blurt out her _history_ to a near stranger.

"I see. I'm sorry for your loss," Steven said apologetically. "I know how it feels to lose a loved one. I lost my mother when I was young as well."

Hariel smiled at him. The man had been more genuine with her ever since she had given him the Metagrossite. He most likely had the pokémon it was meant for which was probably why he wanted it so much.

"Have you decided on what you'd like to be?" Steven asked as he sipped his water.

"I'm still deciding…but I think I want to be a trainer, but I don't want to disregard the experience doing contests can give me as well," Hariel answered thoughtfully.

"That's great! It's always wise to experience everything you can," Steven praised, "How old are you?"

"I'm 19."

"Oh? I'm 25 myself. Besides, it's never too late to be a trainer," Steven said kindly, looking a bit more intrigued.

Why? She didn't know. But she did know that Steven felt nothing but both kindness and interest towards her, nothing malicious or shady in the least. The new ability to sense intent and emotion was new…and useful for sure. But all in all, Steven felt trustworthy.

* * *

When Steven first saw Hariel, his first thought was _beautiful_. Not the primped up beauties he usually saw at his father's formal business parties, but the natural kind of beauty that did not need any sort of enhancement. She had long dark hair that fell down to the small of her back in soft waves, fair skin, was a bit on the short side, and had the most enchanting green eyes he had ever seen. She also had the most curious faded scar on her forehead that took the shape of a lightning bolt. The Absol beside her eyed him warily, standing in a way where it would be able to attack him at any moment.

Absol were incredibly loyal to their trainers, and would not follow someone unless they proved themselves to them.

After scanning the stone, Steven couldn't even wrap his head around the fact that the girl had a Metagrossite right in her arms. A beautiful uncut Metagrossite. He very much wanted it, and was tempted to ask the price for it since he had been searching for months for the Mega Stone for his Metagross.

But before he could offer anything, he was surprised by the fact that she was willing to give it to him for just a small tidbit of information that she could have gotten from Professor Birch if she had asked. Though Mega Evolution wasn't too well known at the moment, the Professors of each region at least knew a bit about the subject.

Though it was Professor Sycamore of the Kalos Region that was the leading researcher on the study.

Despite hearing how valuable it was, she just _gave_ it to him.

Clearly there was a lot more to Hariel than it appeared, and he knew just the gift to give in repayment for the Mega Stone.

An Absolite. He had found one a few weeks ago. It would be a good exchange for the Mega Stone she had just given him. He would also throw in a key stone as well, as he doubted that she even had one.

Later he talked over dinner with Hariel, getting to know her more. He mildly gave a small sigh of relief when she revealed herself to be 19. At least he knew that he was attracted to someone legal.

He could sympathize with Hariel, having lost his mother to illness when he was just a child.

"I almost forgot…I found another one of those Mega Stones back in that cave. Do you think you can tell me what it is?" Hariel asked as she opened her pack and pulled out yet _another_ uncut Mega stone.

Steven widened his eyes. She had found _two_ Mega Stones in that cave? How lucky could you get?

He took the stone and ran his scanner over it again, revealing it to be a Gardevoirite.

"It's a Gardevoirite. It's a Mega Stone used to mega evolve a Gardevoir," Steven said and handed the stone back. Other than being put into his vast collection, he had no true use for that particular Mega Stone. "You should hang on to it."

"Alright," Hariel smiled.

"Well in regards to your choice of whether or not to be a trainer or coordinator, the very basics of both requires you to know how to battle with your pokémon. Assuming that Absol is your first pokémon, it'll be his job to protect you when you're travelling to Littleroot town. On the routes between towns and cities, many wild pokémon can attack if you unknowingly get too close or if you entrench onto their territory. Some may even attack you for food," Steven explained.

"Absol isn't really my pokémon. I haven't even officially caught him…" Hariel said sheepishly as Absol tried to nudge one of the pokéballs from her belt free.

"It seems like he very much wants to come with you on your pokémon journey though," Steven said with an amused smile.

With some instruction, Hariel happily caught Absol before letting him back out.

"I prefer him walking by my side," Hariel said and Absol nodding in agreement, nuzzling her side.

"Tomorrow morning, let's try to find out what moves Absol has. That way, you can battle accordingly," Steven suggested.

"Alright! Thank you!" Hariel said gratefully and gave him a smile that warmed him.

* * *

After a night in the pokémon center, Hariel and Steven stood on a set up battlefield behind the center.

"Normally, we could just check with a pokedex to see what moves Absol knows, but since you don't have one, then this should be fine. Alright, if Absol can just demonstrate every move he knows, I can identify them accordingly," Steven said and Absol nodded.

With that, Absol attacked and slashed at the ground with a claw covered in a dark shadowy aura with a purple outline.

"Shadow Claw."

A crescent of purple energy.

"Psycho Cut."

Multiple blades of white crescent shaped energy.

"Razor Wind."

Claws that glowed a bright purple.

"Night Slash."

A beam of dark purple circles.

"Dark Pulse."

Enlarged horn with a bright green outline.

"Megahorn."

Shooting out bright blue balls of energy and making them disappear through wormholes in the air. The energy balls later struck a nearby tree, obliterating it.

"Future Sight."

When Absol made no more attempts, they assumed that he had showcased all his abilities.

"Incredible. Your Absol has a wide variety of moves to choose from. That will make battling a bit easier for you. Most wild pokémon don't even have half the number of abilities as yours does, especially when he has had no previous trainer," Steven praised, making Absol straighten up proudly.

Hariel had no doubt that Fate probably set up the meeting between her and Absol. A wild pokémon that strong was rare. Or maybe she was just actually lucky for once. Perhaps even her Absol took to training himself to get stronger like Oliver Wood took Quidditch to the extremes, driving her and her teammates crazy when they had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning for practice.

"But one of the great things about Absol is that they can learn a wide variety of moves of different types," Steven said, "When you get your pokédex from Professor Birch, it can tell you more about what kind of moves your Absol can learn and give you an idea of what would work best. Of course, although having a variety of moves are helpful, what really counts is how you use them. In this aspect, Coordinators go to great lengths to make their moves look beautiful and unique, creating combos that most trainers wouldn't even think of."

"Wow, that's pretty cool. You're one awesome pokémon, Absol," Hariel smiled, petting the Dark Type's head gently, making him purr.

"If you give me your PokéNav, I can set the coordinates for Littleroot town. It'll help prevent you from getting lost," Steven said and Hariel handed over the yellow device.

With a few presses of a button, Steven handed the PokéNav back.

"Mr. Stone? There is a phone call for you," Nurse Joy said, peeking from the back door of the Pokémon Center.

"Thank you," Steven said before turning back to Hariel. "I wish you luck, Hariel. I hope we meet again soon."

Hariel nodded with a smile.

* * *

After leaving the Pokémon Center, she headed towards the PokéMart. After seeing the prices of various drinks and snacks, she knew that she wouldn't have to worry about money for a very long time…if at all.

Then she found what she was looking for. Apparently at the back of the PokéMart, you could refill drink capsules. You just inserted your capsule, and the machine would gauge how much liquid was left (with the use of the liquid meter on the side) in the capsule and refill accordingly. Then the machine would print out a small ticket with the price you owed for the drink. There were various drink dispensers. There was one for water, Moo Moo Milk, various types of soda, sports drinks, iced tea, berry juice, and lemonade.

She quickly inserted her capsules for the Milk and water dispensers and took the tickets. She then decided to have another look around. There were sections where you could buy pokéballs, medicines, snacks, pokémon food, individually bottled drinks, magazines and newspapers, and vitamins.

She picked up a few pokéballs, vitamins, some snacks and candy, a proper food and water dish for Absol, and a few more capsules and large storage containers. Despite the fact that Fate had already stocked her up nicely with medicine, she decided that buying a few more bottles of Full Restore wouldn't ago amiss. They maybe be expensive to an average person, but to her 3000 yen was pretty much pocket change. Then she picked up some human medicines as well. Painkillers, antibiotics, bruise salves, cooling spray, medical tape, and bandages.

When it came to the pokémon food, they sold them in containers in accordance to type. Each pokémon type required a different diet of various vitamins and minerals. The store bought pokémon food was generalized and Steven had told her that top trainers either make their own special blend of pokémon food or buy them from reputable breeders. He himself wasn't a very good cook, so he bought his pokémon food from a breeder who was a good friend of his. One had to have exemplary knowledge about pokémon nutrition in order to create top quality food, even then it was another battle altogether to make a blend that also tasted good.

The store bought pokémon food was more for convenience to trainers and easily accessible to beginners, who generally would have no idea on how to start making their own pokémon food. Since she was a beginner herself, she decided to buy a couple containers of the Dark Type pokémon food.

Hariel herself was a good cook, and she liked cooking. She vowed to make her own pokémon food and after paying for her purchases, she headed straight to the bookstore with Absol hot on her heels.

"Hello there dearie, are you looking for something specific?" a kind elderly man asked. Hariel looked to his nameplate that read "Richard" and nodded.

"I'm looking for a book on Absol," Hariel requested. A recipe book for pokémon food was unnecessary because within her miscellaneous capsule, Fate had packed a lot of different recipe books. Last night before bed, she had skimmed them briefly. If anything, at least she was much more prepared this time around than when she was running blind trying to defeat Voldemort.

Fate had given her many different recipe books as she most likely knew about her love of cooking.

"Of course," Richard said with a smile and helped her find the requested book. The book about Absol as a bit thinner than she thought, only maybe 20-30 pages at most? It covered the basic dietary needs, grooming, interesting facts, and even a moveset list.

Along with the book on Absol, she picked up two thick hard covered journals to keep her notes and self-altered recipes in.

After paying for her books, she left to the electronics store, where she picked up a pokéblock machine and a pokémon food pellet machine. Each of them were portable sized and kept in her Camping and Cooking supplies capsule. The ones used for mass production were much too big to carry around and generally were only used by breeders, professors, specialized food shops, and other pokémon caretakers.

She also picked up a charger that could either gather sunlight or use an electric pokémon's electricity to power up her devices.

Now that her shopping was complete, it was time to head off.

* * *

As she walked through the forest on route to Oldale Town, she felt something watching her. Whatever it was, she could feel anger.

"Luxray!" a dark blue cat-like pokémon pounced out of the tall grass.

And it did not look happy. She could feel the anger and resentment rolling off the pokémon.

What could have happened to that pokémon to make it feel that way?

"I see. Are you looking for a battle?" Hariel asked and as a reply, it charged at her with a bright yellow electric aura.

Before she could put up a shield, Absol fired a Dark Pulse at the pokémon, hitting the electric type directly and blowing it off course.

"Luxray!" the pokémon snarled and directed its ire at Absol, who glared back at the pokémon who dared to try and harm his trainer.

"I suppose this will be our first battle. We can figure out why Luxray is so angry later," Hariel said, looking resolute.

This would be her first pokémon battle and she wasn't going to prove herself to Absol as a weak trainer.

"Absol, fire a Dark Pulse and then use Razor Wind!" Hariel ordered. She knew that Razor Wind was a wide ranged attack and that Dark Pulse was more concentrated. It wouldn't hurt to cover her bases just in case Luxray managed to dodge.

And she was right, Dark Pulse missed, but Razor Wind with its wide range still managed to hit.

Luxray shook off the damage and fired out what looked to be a several bolts of electricity spread out in all directions.

"Absol dodge and counter with Psycho Cut!" Hariel ordered.

Absol managed to jump out of the way in time and the electric attack struck the ground where the Dark Type once was, creating a small crater. With a swing of his horn, Absol sent a crescent blade of psychic energy at the opponent. It hit and sent Luxray flying into a tree with a crash.

"While it's down, get in there and use Megahorn!" Hariel commanded, hoping that it would be enough to take down the pokémon.

She didn't think that wild pokémon were this tough! And people still allowed their 10 year old children to come out here on their own?!

Absol charged in with his enlarged horn and slammed Luxray into the tree again, snapping the tree in half. Absol then jumped back with an elegant flip and landed before her.

 _That's a bit overkill,_ Hariel thought with a wince. Damn, pokémon were seriously powerful.

Once it got back up with a wince, Luxray's fangs then glowed with a bright electric aura. Before Hariel could tell her Absol to dodge, Luxray moved even faster than before and bit into Absol's side.

"Absol!" Hariel cried out in fear.

Absol winced but shook Luxray off, looking even more determined than before.

"Let's try to finish this up, Megahorn one more time!" Hariel ordered.

"Absol!" Absol barked and his horn enlarged again.

The Dark Type dashed over and slammed the other with his horn, throwing the pokémon back once again. Now the both of them were looking a bit tired. Luxray took quite a beating, and Absol looked a bit tired from the battle, not to mention the damage he had taken from the attack Luxray managed to land on him.

"Lux!" Luxray then launched a cluster of sparkling golden stars at Absol.

"Use Razor Wind, then charge in with Shadow Claw!" Hariel commanded.

Absol fired off the Razor Wind, causing the attack to clash and cancel out the cluster of stars, creating an explosion of smoke before he charged right through the smoke with Shadow Claw, swiping at Luxray's side.

But Luxray turned chomped down on Absol's front paw with bright blue fangs, immediately freezing the limb over.

Absol cried out in pain.

"Dark Pulse, point blank!" Hariel gritted her teeth.

She wanted this battle to be over so she could tend to Absol.

Absol shot his Dark Pulse right in Luxray's face, separating his fangs from his limb and blowing him back. At this point Luxray swayed slightly in place but it still wanted to battle. Absol looked at his trainer with worry before turning back to Luxray. Clearly this pokémon was much tougher than they thought. Either it was like Absol or it once had a trainer.

"Luxray's special ability must be Rivalry," a voice said.

Hariel turned to see that it was Steven.

"Rivalry?" Hariel asked.

"Yes. Pokémon have special abilities that can aid them in battle. Rivalry is a special ability that raises the attack of a pokémon when they are facing an opponent of the same gender," Steven informed.

"No wonder this guy just won't quit," Hariel muttered, "He's worn down! Absol, use Future Sight then Night Slash!"

Absol did as told before charging in with glowing purple claws.

Luxray dodged the attack and released multiple bolts of electrical energy, causing his own body and the surrounding area to glow bright yellow.

"That's Electric Terrain! It increases the power of Electric Type moves within the area by 50%. You better finish this up quickly. Absol can take major damage from Luxray if he manages to get hit by any electrical attacks," Steven warned.

"Right. Absol, Psycho Cut, rapid fire!" Hariel ordered, praying that Absol could even follow such an order.

As it turned out, he could. Absol fired Psycho Cut, one after another at Luxray. Luxray tried to dodge, but could not dodge them all. Then Luxray flared out his dark mane and let loose a blinding flash of light, blinding Absol.

With Absol blind, he was vulnerable until his eyes recovered. Luxray took that time to fire another mass of electricity at Absol, hitting the other directly. Absol cried out in pain and nearly slumped to the ground from the pain.

Hariel bit her lip before an idea came to her when Luxray charged in glowing bright electric yellow again.

"Absol! Use your horn to sense where he is and dodge!"

Absol gritted his teeth and did as ordered, using his sensitive horn to feel out his opponent's whereabouts.

Steven widened his eyes in amazement. He'd never seen that done before, and thanks to that brilliant command, Absol was able to dodge Luxray's multiple attempts to use Wild Charge. Hariel must be a prodigy at battling considering she lasted this long against an experienced Luxray. He was quite a powerhouse; a shame that his previous trainer could not tame him properly.

When Wild Charge wasn't working, Luxray decided to switch tactics and his tail glowed brightly and gained a metallic sheen. He swung his tail at Absol but the other was still able to dodge.

On Luxray's 2th attempt at attacking Absol with his metallic tail, the wormholes appeared around him and barraged him from all directions with concentrated psychic energy. Even though Absol was hit too from being within the same vicinity, as a Dark Type, he was immune to Psychic attacks.

"Quick, as Luxray is now weak from Future Sight, use a pokéball!" Steven urged.

Hariel did as told and threw a pokéball at the heavily injured pokémon. Luxray got sucked in, and struggled inside the pokéball. After a few suspenseful moments, Luxray was officially caught.

"Excellent work! That pokémon was much, much stronger than any other wild pokémon in the area," Steven said as Hariel picked up the pokéball with awe. "I had been asked to deal with the problem not long after you left by Nurse Joy. Apparently that Luxray had been abandoned by his trainer for disobedience and aggression a few days ago and had been attacking every trainer it saw since. It was quite a problem. I was going to catch it and deal with it myself, but then I saw you doing so well battling him with Absol. You did very well for a beginner trainer. It seems you have a knack for it."

Hariel blushed slightly at the praise.

"Normally for a beginner trainer, an aggressive Luxray like that would not be compatible at all. But I feel like you'll be able to handle it just fine," Steven said with a smile before turning to the Disaster Pokémon. "And you Absol were excellent. You responded very well to Hariel's commands. I look forward to battling you one day as well."

Absol nodded to him before wincing in pain. His front right paw was still iced over.

"But perhaps a quick trip to the pokémon center is due," Steven said with concern.

"Right," Hariel said before returning Absol to his pokéball for easy transportation, "Thank you Absol, you're a great partner!"

The pokéball wiggled in response, making Hariel smile.

* * *

After saying goodbye to Steven and during her wait at the pokémon center, Hariel decided to get a head start on the Pokémon food book that she had gotten. It had recipes for various types of pokémon food depending on type. They were all great bases depending on what types of flavors her pokémon liked best.

The recipe books Fate had packed for her had been very insightful. There was a book on Pokémon food pellets, Pokéblock, PokéPuffs, and Poffins. What she gathered was that generally, anything a human can eat a pokémon can eat as well. So if she decided to make stew for her pokémon, she would be able to feed it to them without major consequence.

Then a thought came to her. If this world's pokémon were her world's animals, did that mean the people ate pokémon? Pokémon eating other pokémon wasn't really a shock, it seemed like a natural order of things, but she could not in good conscience eat something that was so intelligent. It would be like eating dog steak or dolphin fish sticks…just…no.

She supposed that it wouldn't be too hard to go vegetarian. Eggs, nuts, and tofu were all excellent sources of protein and various vegetables had protein in it as well. She could make it work.

She thanked Fate for once for giving her other recipe books than just the pokémon related ones. With a quick browse, she sighed in relief that all of them were vegetarian.

That meddling bitch.

This time, she was thankful for her interference, but she hoped that Fate wouldn't make a habit out of it. She was supposed to be getting a new start dammit! One where she would be free to do as she pleased.

"Ms. Evans? Your pokémon are ready," Nurse Joy said kindly.

"Thank you!" Hariel said with relief when she spotted Absol walking beside Nurse Joy without an injury in sight.

After retrieving Luxray's ball, she went on her way.


	3. Chapter 3

After a few hours of walking, Hariel decided that a break was in order and it was as good time as any for a snack.

She and Absol found a small clearing that would make for a great resting spot. After laying out a picnic blanket, she took out some berries, milk, and a package of chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps she could make some homemade ones another time. She gave some Oran Berries and a bowl of milk to Absol before she took out Luxray's ball.

If Luxray was going to be on her team from now on, they would have to get along. With a sigh, she released him from his pokéball.

Luxray looked sharply at his surroundings before his red eyes settled on Absol, and more importantly, Hariel.

Hariel made no sudden movements and kept eye contact with the pokémon, showing no fear. She could tell that he was searching for something in her gaze.

"I mean you no harm, Luxray. If you are not content with me, you are more than welcome to leave. I will not force you to stay. If you're going to stay and travel with me, it's because you want to, not because you're obligated to," Hariel said, never breaking eye contact with Luxray.

"Lux," the electric type said gruffly with a hint of respect. He sat down and tentatively allowed Hariel to pet his mane. He eventually joined Absol in eating Oran Berries and drinking Moo Moo Milk, of which he really seemed to enjoy as he gone through two bowls of the stuff, while Hariel occasionally slipped them some chocolate chip cookies.

She then spent the next half hour brushing both Absol and Luxray. She wanted to keep their fur nice and soft. She would have to remember to pick up some shampoo for pokémon in Oldale Town.

After brushing her pokémon and eating milk and cookies, she packed everything up.

"Luxray, do you want to walk beside me or do you want go inside your ball?" Hariel asked.

Luxray looked at the pokéball then at Hariel before nuzzling her side.

"A walk it is then. Let's go," Hariel said with a smile with a quick look at her PokéNav, they were off.

After picking up some supplies at Oldale town, the trio were now on their way to Littleroot where she would be able to get her pokédex.

"Help! Somebody please help me!" a voice cried out.

Hariel looked at her pokémon before dashing off towards the voice. The three ran for a few minutes before finding the source of the cries for help.

It was a middle aged man hanging off a tree branch with several dog like pokémon snapping at his heels.

"Hello there! Can I please get some assistance?" the man asked sheepishly.

Hariel nodded with a small but amused smile at the man's predicament.

"Luxray, will you allow me to command you in battle?" Hariel asked.

Luxray looked at her for a moment and nodded with respect and anticipation.

"Alright then. Luxray, use Discharge!" Hariel commanded, mentally thanking Steven for identifying Luxray's abilities.

He knew Flash, Swift, Electric Terrain, Discharge, Thunder Fang, Ice Fang, Iron Tail, and Wild Charge. A good move set but not too surprising considering Luxray had once belonged to another trainer.

"Luxray!" the electric pokémon cried out and fired out multiple bolts of electricity, hitting each of the dog pokémon and sent them packing.

"Good job, Luxray," Hariel praised, petting the pokémon with happiness.

Luxray purred from the affection, warming up to Hariel quickly.

"Thank you very much. That was quite a Discharge," the man praised. "My name is Professor Birch, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello there Professor, my name is Hariel Evans," the witch greeted in kind, shaking the man's hand.

Professor Birch smiled, "Now what brings you here all the way to Littleroot Town?"

"I'm actually here to register as a trainer…" Hariel replied.

"A trainer? May I ask why you're starting now?" Birch asked curiously.

"Due to family issues, I couldn't start my journey until my affairs were settled," Hariel said, sounding a bit flustered.

"I see," the professor said with non-judgmental eyes, "Well then, better late than never, nm?"

Hariel nodded and was glad that he didn't pry.

* * *

Professor Birch led her back to his lab where she was given a red pokédex, six pokéballs, and the option to choose a starter pokémon like every other beginner trainer.

"Now you're in for a treat! Professor Oak from the Kanto region agreed to lend me the Kanto starter pokémon for my research. But you're more than welcome to choose one of them if you wish despite the fact that you already have two pokémon of your own," Professor Birch said, lining up six different pokémon on the display table. "There are the Grass types, Treecko and Bulbasaur. The Water types, Mudkip and Squirtle. Then there's the Fire types, Torchic and Charmander. Now, which would you like?"

Luxray and Absol looked at the row of pokémon curiously while Hariel thought hard. What would be a good addition to her team?

She gave them all a good once over before settling her eyes on Charmander.

"I choose Charmander," Hariel said finally, making the lizard pokémon jump with joy.

"Good choice!" Professor Birch nodded and handed over Charmander's pokéball. "Now then, good luck on your journey!"

"Thank you, Professor Birch," Hariel said, smiling happily as Charmander jumped into her arms.

* * *

"Okay, let's check you guys out," Hariel said, settling in a small park nearby. She took out her pokédex and pointed it to Absol first.

A picture of Absol showed up on the screen and spoke " **Absol, the Disaster Pokémon. When disasters are detected with its horn, Absol comes down from the mountain to warn people.** "

Hariel's eyes scanned over the extra tidbits of information on the screen.

 **Gender:** Male

 **Ability:** Super Luck

 **Hidden Ability:** Justified

 **Super Luck:** The ability to sense an opponent's weak points.

 **Justified:** Attack power is increased when hit with a Dark Type move.

 **Moves:** Shadow Claw, Night Slash, Dark Pulse, Megahorn (Egg move), Psycho Cut, Razor Wind, and Future Sight.

Hariel hummed and pointed her pokédex at Luxray next.

" **Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokémon and the evolved form of Luxio. Using the power to see through walls, Luxray can track down hidden opponents and even locate lost children.** "

 **Gender:** Male

 **Ability:** Rivalry

 **Hidden Ability:** Guts

 **Rivalry:** When facing an opponent of the same gender, its attack power increases. When facing opponents of the opposite gender, its attack power decreases.

 **Guts:** When the pokémon with this ability is afflicted with a status condition, its attack increases.

 **Moves:** Flash, Swift (Egg Move), Electric Terrain, Wild Charge, Thunder Fang, Ice Fang (Egg move), Discharge, and Iron Tail.

Damn, _two_ egg moves? Must have come from a high grade breeding centre then.

Charmander next.

" **Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. When the tip of Charmander's tail burns brightly, that indicates it's in good health.** "

 **Gender:** Female

 **Ability:** Blaze

 **Hidden Ability:** Solar Power

 **Blaze:** When the pokémon with this ability weakens or tires, its Fire Type attacks are powered up.

 **Solar Power:** In the weather of harsh sunlight, its special abilities are powered up dramatically, however, it loses more stamina than usual.

"Let's see here…you have Scratch, Growl, and Flamethrower," Hariel smiled. "A good starter move set!"

"Char!" Charmander cheered happily and started to shoot off Flamethrowers in every direction in exuberance.

That was probably the reason why it knew Flamethrower in the first place instead of the usual Ember attack…

Before she could say anything else, something was twirling her way. It looked to be a pokémon with blue hair wearing a tutu.

Her Pokédex activated automatically when the pokémon stopped right in front of her, " **Kirlia, the Emotion Pokémon and the evolved form of Ralts. Kirlia uses the horns on its head to amplify its Psychic powers, and when this occurs reality becomes warped, and future events can be seen.** "

Pokémon being able to see the future? Why wasn't she surprised anymore? And why was this Kirlia coloured differently than the one in the pokédex?

"Oh dear, it seems that Kirlia has taken a liking to you!" an elderly woman said, slowly walking up to her with another pokémon by her side.

It kind of looked like a fox holding a pair of spoons.

" **Alakazam, the Psi Pokémon, and the evolved form of** **Kadabra** **. With the brain like a super computer, it possesses many different supernatural powers.** "

Hariel curiously probed Kirlia with her magic, and it twirled in happiness as a response.

"I think Kirlia wishes to go with you," the woman said, smiling.

"H-Huh?" Hariel flustered when Kirlia nodded. "Why me? I mean, she just saw me just now…"

"You're a Psychic, aren't you?" The woman asked with a knowing eye.

"H-How-"

"Did I know? Well dearie, I'm one as well. Which is why I get along so well with Alakazam here," the woman smiled. "My name is Martha."

"I'm Hariel."

"You're a very strong Psychic. I sense it now. Maybe that's why Kirlia is so taken with you. Kirlia can see the future, so she must've been waiting for you," Martha said with a smile.

"Waiting for me?" Hariel asked, confused.

"Yes. Kirlia came into my care about a month ago. She told me that she was waiting for someone. And then today of all days she bolts out the door and finds you!"

How the hell do pokémon just fall into her lap like this? Couldn't she just do the regular battle and capture these days?

It was Fate…It had to be. There was no other way.

 _'Dammit Fate, can't you stop interfering already? I want to do this on my own!'_ Hariel thought furiously.

Martha gave her a knowing smirk, sending chills down her spine.

Without further ado, Kirlia used Psychic to levitate a pokéball from Hariel's belt and used it to capture herself, as if to say the pokémon would not take no for an answer.

By this point, Martha disappeared, making Hariel look around in paranoia. How did the woman and her pokémon leave without her noticing?

With a sigh, Hariel scanned the pokéball to see what types of moves Kirlia had.

Teleport, Disarming Voice, Misty Terrain, Magical Leaf, Psychic, Heal Pulse, and Shadow Ball.

 **Gender:** Female

 **Ability:** Synchronize

 **Hidden Ability:** Telepathy

 **Synchronize:** If the pokémon with this ability is afflicted with burn, paralysis, or poison, the pokémon that inflicted the status condition with gain it as well.

 **Telepathy:** When participating in team battles, this pokémon will avoid its allies damaging moves.

Hariel sighed. Kirlia was a great pokémon. Evidently, even in another world, she still couldn't be normal.

* * *

"Okay, I think a Water Type pokémon would be a great addition to my team," Hariel said as she, Absol, and Luxray settled down on the side of a pond. According to the instruction guides, the best way to get a Water type pokémon was to fish in rivers, ponds, lakes, and the ocean.

Before even starting to fish, she decided to release all of her pokémon for a good relaxation under the tree shade, though Charmander preferred to settle on a high rock and Scratch the hell out of another boulder. Great, she had a training nut for a pokémon.

It thankfully didn't take long to get a bite and she fished up…some sort of ugly carp.

" **Feebas, the Fish Pokémon.** **Feebas' fins are ragged and tattered from the start of its life. Because of its shoddy appearance, this Pokémon is largely ignored. It is capable of living in both the sea and in rivers.** "

"Ignored…" Hariel said as she looked at the pokémon she caught, who was staring up at her blankly.

How many times had she been ignored in her childhood? How many times had she been shoved into her cupboard under the stairs and was not allowed out for hours on end? How many times did the teachers at school ignore her tattered appearance and eyes that called for help? She had tried to seek help once, but the Dursleys quickly cut in and spread rumors and lies about her, prompting almost any adult she encountered to ignore her as well.

"Alright! I've decided! You shall be a new addition to my team!" Hariel said with finality. "Charmander? Ready for your first battle?"

Charmander eagerly hopped down from her rock and stood in front of Feebas with a fierce expression.

Luxray gave a huff. Clearly he was a better choice due to his type advantage, but he supposed that Charmander needed battle experience.

"Charmander! Use Scratch!"

"Char!" Charmander charged in and scratched at Feebas' hide.

"Now throw it out of the water and use Flamethrower!" Hariel commanded.

Charmander grunted as she grabbed Feebas' tail and threw it into the air before launching a Flamethrower attack.

Before the attack hit, Feebas glowed with some sort of reflective aura. When Flamethrower hit, it was sent back looking twice as powerful as before.

"Dodge!"

Charmander scrambled out of the way as the Flamethrower burned the patch of grass she was previously standing on. Kirlia was quick to use Psychic to levitate some water to put the fire out, otherwise they would have had a real forest fire on their hands and that was _not_ a great way to start a pokémon journey.

"Quick, use Scratch again!"

As Feebas fell and flopped on land, Charmander landed another Scratch attack.

Hariel then threw a pokéball at Feebas and it was captured moments later.

"Great job Charmander!" Hariel praised, making the pokémon jump in joy.

"Now let's heal up Feebas and introduce it to everyone, hm?" Hariel said happily.

She filled a large tub with the pond water. Originally the tub was supposed to be a basin to wash her dishes and cooking utensils in, but it would do for a bathtub for now.

She released Feebas into the tub and pulled out a Super Potion, spraying the scratches with it and gently cleaned off the dirt and grass from its fins.

Feebas looked up at her curiously.

"Even if you're ignored by everyone else, I promise I won't ignore you," Hariel said quietly. "Are you willing to work with me, Feebas?"

Feebas looked at her and flipped its fins in joy.

"Outer beauty doesn't mean much if you don't have an equally nice personality to back it up," Hariel said, "So no matter what, I'll train you to be a great Pokémon. One so great that everyone will have to notice how awesome you are!"

"Feebas…" the pokémon said, tearing up before glowing.

"Huh?" Hariel dropped her towel and watched in awe with the rest of her pokémon as Feebas' form glowed brightly and elongated.

As the glow faded, what once before was an ugly fish was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. It was some sort of sea serpent with a primarily cream-colored body. It had red eyes with long, pinkish antennae above them. Additionally, there were long, hair-like fins above its eyes, which began thin and thickened towards the tips. The eyebrows extended to half of the pokémon's body length. On top of its relatively small head was a straight spike. Running down either side of its neck were three black dots, similar to gills. Its lower body had a patterning of blue and pink, diamond-shaped scales outlined with black and the tail consisted of four large, blue fins with pink ovals in their centers. Each of the tail fins overlapped the next slightly, causing it to resemble a fan. At different angles, its scales varied in color, causing the pokémon to shimmer beautifully in the sunlight.

Hariel numbly brought out her pokédex.

" **Milotic, the Tender Pokémon and the Evolved form of Feebas. Milotic is said to be the most beautiful of all the Pokémon. It has the power to becalm such emotions as anger and hostility to quell bitter feuding.** "

 **Gender:** Female

 **Ability:** Marvel Scale

 **Hidden Ability:** Cute Charm

 **Marvel Scale:** When a pokémon with this ability is afflicted with a status condition, its defense increases.

 **Cute Charm:** If the pokémon with this ability is hit by a move that makes contact, there is a chance that the opponent can become infatuated if the opposing pokémon is of the opposite gender than the pokémon with this ability. This ability has no effect on genderless pokémon.

 **Moves:** Mirror Coat (Egg move), Water Pulse, Refresh, and Twister.

Milotic cooed and nuzzled Hariel, making the witch snap out of her stunned state and laugh.

"Reminds me of the story of the Ugly Duckling," Hariel mused, "Did you just need someone to acknowledge how wonderful you can be?"

Milotic cooed.

But seriously, where was her normality? By her third day in this world, she had five pokémon. _FIVE POKÉMON!_


	4. Chapter 4

"There you are Hariel! I've been looking for you!" a voice called out from above.

Hariel paused her cooking to look up curiously, spotting Steven flying towards her on the back of a metal bird creature.

"Hello Steven, it's been a while," Hariel said, smiling.

It had been about a week since she had seen the man.

He looked even more handsome now that he was wearing a dark suit with a red cravat and purple zig zags on either side of the suit jacket. The cuffs of the jacket were encased in metal in the shape of a crown, and he now wore multiple thick rings on his finger. Underneath he wore a purple suit vest. Pinned to his left breast was a stickpin with a rainbow stone imbedded on the end.

(Steven Stone XY artwork)

At the moment, she had taken to making pokémon food very quickly. She hated to admit it, but Fate's cookbooks were great. Her pokémon loved her food and were spoiled by it.

For each pokémon, she would make the food pellets in bulk and put them in large labeled containers. Nurse Joy even gave her a booklet on pokémon food portions to make sure she wasn't overfeeding or underfeeding her pokémon.

"You sure do work fast," Steven said, amazed as he spotted Milotic and Kirlia, "And a shiny Kirlia no less!"

"Shiny?"

"The term Shiny pokémon means it was just born with a discolouration as per the regular colours they are born with, that's all," Steven helpfully explained, looking around at her pokémon more closely.

Luxray seemed to be teaching Charmander and Milotic how to use Iron Tail, Absol was sharpening his claws on a stone, and Kirlia was practicing her Psychic attack by surrounding herself in a flurry of flowers.

"I see," Hariel said thoughtfully as she put more ingredients into the pellet maker and turned the machine on.

She then wiped her hands on the cloth hanging from her apron and took out her pokédex, pointing it at the metal bird.

" **Skarmory, the Armour Bird Pokémon.** **Despite being clad entirely in iron-hard armor, it flies at speed of over** **180 mph** **.** "

"That's pretty cool," Hariel said with interest.

"I wanted to show you something," Steven said before throwing a pokéball into the air, releasing whoever was inside.

It was a silver steel creature on four hulking legs and a golden X across his face.

On its front right leg was a metal band with a familiar looking cat's eye stone imbedded into it.

"This here is my partner, Metagross. I had been looking for months for his Mega Stone when you had kindly gave me the one you found," Steven said happily.

Hariel looked at the pokémon with awe and held up her pokédex again.

" **Metagross, the Iron Leg Pokémon and the evolved form of Metang. Metagross has four brains in total. Combined, the four brains can breeze through difficult calculations faster than a supercomputer. This Pokémon can float in the air by tucking in its four legs.** "

Like her Kirlia, Metagross' colouring also deviated from the norm.

"Just a dinner wasn't enough to repay you, so here is my true return gift," Steven said, smiling as he walked over to give Hariel a long velvet box.

Hariel took it with a smile and widened her eyes upon opening it. It was a Mega Stone with the colours of dark blue and white ribbons encased in a pale blue stone. The other stone was a rainbow coloured marble with some sort of black DNA design inside.

"This is an Absolite and a Keystone. With them, you can Mega Evolve your Absol into Mega Absol," Steven said with a smile.

"Thank you!" Hariel said, taking the stones gratefully, noticing that he had also taken the time to make both the stones into necklaces.

One for Absol and one for herself.

"The key to having Absol Mega Evolve is a close bond. When your hearts are united, the keystone will activate the Absolite and Absol will Mega Evolve!"

"A close bond," Hariel said to herself, looking at Absol with awe.

The pokémon looked just as amazed.

"I have no doubt that you'll be able to achieve Mega Evolution with your Absol in the future," Steven said with a confident nod.

"Thank you so much Steven," Hariel said and gave the man a hug, making the other blush at the close contact.

Thankfully it was a short hug, otherwise Hariel would have noticed Steven's increased heartbeat.

"Well, I also wanted to extend the offer to have your Gardevoirite cut for you. You may be able to achieve Mega Evolution when your Kirlia evolves," Steven said.

"Of course!" Hariel nodded and immediately searched through her pack for the right capsule before releasing the stone with within.

She handed Steven the stone with a smile.

"Oh and by the way…you look very cute in that apron," Steven said with a bright smile before making a quick getaway on his Skarmory after returning Metagross to its ball.

"Huh?" Hariel looked utterly bewildered by the sudden complement but before she could say anything in reply, Steven was already gone.

Hariel just sighed and shook her head before Absol approached her, his eye on the Mega Stone necklace.

"Here you go, Absol," Hariel said, slipping the necklace around Absol's neck. The Mega Stone pendant settled nicely on his chest.

Hariel then did the same and put the necklace on herself.

"I look forward to these upcoming months, hmm?"

"Absol!" Absol said in agreement.

* * *

Before even trying for the Petalburg Gym, Hariel had wanted to get some intense training in.

Since Luxray and Absol were the strongest pokémon on her team with Kirlia being third, it meant that Milotic and Charmander had quite a bit of catching up to do.

She had battled some rookie trainers on routes between towns, but she had defeated them all rather easily. She didn't think that pokémon training and battling would be this easy, but then she doubted that other trainers could fall back on practicing spells as a guide to help pokémon with their abilities.

Stamina, power, control, and then endurance.

Using magic to make large boulders more impervious to attacks, she had her pokémon attack them nonstop. Eventually, one by one, they all fell to exhaustion with Absol and Luxray lasting the longest.

After a break, lunch, and restoring their energy with Sitrus Berries and Leppa Berries, she had them try to pulverize the boulders instead, charming them so they would be extra difficult to destroy.

And if they managed that, then Hariel had them work on control next by making them do meticulous tasks with the use of their abilities.

She had Luxray meticulously use his discharge to create tiny sparks that would pick apples off a tree rather than blowing the entire tree up like it normally would have. The tiny sparks were supposed to carefully burn the stems so the apples would fall.

Kirlia would quicken her teleport use by catching each apple by hand and putting them into a basket before they bruised by landing on the hard ground.

Absol was using his Night Slash, Shadow Claw, and Psycho Cuts to carve perfect cubes out of stone instead of shattering it like he normally would have done.

Milotic was shooting water pulses of varying sizes at some special wooden rings that Hariel had transfigured. Each ring had a smaller ring within. Milotic was only supposed to get the smaller ring wet by having a perfect sized water pulse shoot through them. Too big and the smaller ring would be washed away. Too small and the ring wouldn't even get wet.

Lastly, Charmander was using her flamethrower to dry wet rags as the Fire Type had the tendency to burn everything into blackened crisps. This would teach her to control her Flamethrower and hold back from wasting unnecessary energy. Too much would burn the rags, and too little and the rags would just be holding hot water instead of the cool pond water they were soaked in.

Hariel wanted all of them to have minute control over all of their abilities.

As she supervised them over their respective training, she was practicing making Poffins as a treat for doing so well in their training. They had only been in the clearing for a few days, but they had already improved so much!

After observing her pokémon closely, she noticed that while all her pokémon liked the berries she gave them, when it came to the food pellets, some liked different tastes over others.

Kirlia preferred her food a bit sweeter than the others, while Charmander liked hers to be a little spicy. Absol liked his food to be balanced in flavour as did Luxray while Milotic preferred her food to have a more bitter taste.

Thankfully a League Tournament was held every 6 months, and it wouldn't be for another 2 until the Hoenn League Tournament came around. Deciding that she wanted to take her time with her journey rather than rush, she would enter the next League Tournament after the upcoming one. With this, she would have plenty of time to sightsee and gather badges.

Having gone through quite a bit of food in the past week, Hariel decided to stop by the supermarket to pick up some groceries.

* * *

After buying her purchases, the cashier handed her something with a smile.

"Congratulations, Miss! For this week, anyone who spends over 15,000 yen at our supermarket chain in a single purchase gets a free pass to the Annual Festival in Cameron Palace!"

After putting her groceries away, she showed the pass to Absol, who looked at it with intrigue.

"The Cameron Palace is in the Kanto region, which is quite a ways from here. But two weeks from now in Rustboro City, there's a free ride from there to Cameron Palace! Doesn't that sound cool?" Hariel asked. "Imagine all the different pokémon we'd see there!"

"Absol sol!" Absol nodded in agreement.

"After this gym, we should head off to Rustboro otherwise we won't make it," Hariel decided and headed off to the Petalburg Gym.

* * *

It didn't take long to find the Gym after asking for some directions. She found the Gym on a hill near the edge of the city.

She knocked before entering and looked around the large rocky battlefield within the temple-like building.

"Hello? Is anyone here? I'm here to challenge the Gym Leader!" Hariel called out.

"I'm the Gym Leader here," a man said, walking into the gym. The man had neatly styled short black hair, tanned skin, and wore a maroon jacket coupled with dark blue pants.

He was quite handsome if she said so herself, but passively she thought Steven was much more handsome. When she could herself thinking of such a thing, she sighed and cleared her thoughts. Hariel did not need any distractions right now.

"I see you have your Absol here. This Gym calls for a 3 on 3 battle," the man said. "I'm Norman."

"I'm Hariel," the witch nodded, "And I do have two other pokémon who can battle."

Norman smiled, "Excellent! Then I accept your challenge!"

A boy named Kenny was to be the referee as he was working as an assistant in the Petalburg Gym.

" _This will be a 3 vs. 3 battle! Only the challenger may substitute her pokémon!_ " Kenny said.

"Ready, Absol?" Hariel asked.

"Absol!" Absol nodded and stepped out onto the field. This would be their first Gym Battle together.

"Absol, huh. Good choice! My turn! Vigoroth, let's go!" Norman called out and a white monkey with hulking claws appeared on the battlefield.

"Vigoroth?"

" **Vigoroth, the Wild Monkey Pokémon and the evolved form of Slakoth. Vigoroth is only comfortable going berserk. It will destroy anything in its path by spinning both arms, and goes more berserk when done.** "

"It seems like we'll have our hands full with this one," Hariel commented, swallowing her nervousness.

" _The battle between Vigoroth and Absol will now begin!_ " Kenny announced.

"As the challenger, you may have the first move, Hariel," Norman said with a smile.

"Thank you. Absol, use Future Sight!"

"Future Sight? That's an interesting move," Norman mused as Absol shot out balls of concentrated psychic energy that disappeared into worm holes in the air. "Vigoroth, use Scratch!"

"Counter with Dark Pulse and follow up with Megahorn!"

"Absol!" Absol fired a beam of purple rings of dark energy at Vigoroth, hitting him directly in the chest mid-charge of his Scratch attack.

While it was stunned, Absol enlarged his horn and slammed it into the other pokémon, throwing it back.

"V-Vigoroth!" the Normal type grunted and glared at Absol who gave nothing away in his facial expression.

"Flamethrower, Vigoroth!" Norman commanded.

"Jump and use Razor Wind on the flames!" Hariel countered.

"What?" Normal asked, confused as Absol did just that.

The Razor Wind fused with the flames from Vigoroth's Flamethrower and came flying at the Wild Monkey.

"Dodge and use scratch again!"

"Dark Pulse!"

Vigoroth was not able to dodge all of the fiery wind blades and barely managed to move out of the way from Absol's follow-up Dark Pulse, though the attack did skim its side. Charging in quickly, Vigoroth was finally able to land a hit on the other pokémon, making Absol growl.

"Now, use Focus Punch!" Norman ordered quickly.

"Block it with Megahorn!" Hariel countered just as quickly. If Focus Punch was allowed to hit, Absol would take major damage as Dark Types were weak against Fighting type moves.

Absol thankfully was able to react in time and blocked Vigoroth's glowing fist with his enlarged glowing horn. Even though Bug Type moves weren't generally effective against Fighting Types, Absol were known for their great physical power. Besides, type advantages weren't everything.

"Dark Pulse!" Hariel commanded swiftly.

Vigoroth was sent flying back from the point blank attack of Dark Pulse.

Before Norman could order a counterattack, the worm holes appeared in mid-air around Vigoroth and barraged the Normal Type from all sides with concentrated psychic power, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Oh no!" Norman panicked as the dust cleared, only to find Vigoroth out cold on the ground.

" _Vigoroth is unable to battle, Absol is the winner!_ "

"Great job, Absol!" Hariel said, hugging the Dark Type.

She and Absol were truly compatible. During the whole battle, her pokémon had only taken one hit! Absol purred and nuzzled her back with just as much affection.

"That was excellent! Especially with your Absol's Razor Wind. Using my own attack to power up your own was nothing short of genius," Norman praised as he returned Vigoroth to its pokéball. "Good job Vigoroth, you deserved a nice long rest."

"Thank you," Hariel nodded.

"Let's see how you handle my next pokémon, Slakoth! Come on out!" Norman called and a sloth-like creature appeared. Vigoroth's pre-evolved form.

" **Slakoth, the Slacker Pokémon. Slakoth is generally found** **sleeping** **and** **very few ever witness it in motion** **.** "

"Absol, why don't you take a break for now?" Hariel suggested as she took out another pokéball.

Absol nodded and sat at her side.

"Charmander, let's do this!"

Charmander appeared on the field looking fierce and gleeful. The small Fire type was already trying to punch an invisible opponent, trying to get the lazy looking Slakoth as pumped up for battle as she was.

Norman smiled in amusement. Truly as a Gym Leader, you saw pokémon of all kinds.

"It's a spunky one, huh?" Norman chuckled.

Hariel laughed with him, "I wouldn't have her any other way!"

" _The battle between Slakoth and Charmander will now begin!_ "

"Charmander, use scratch!" Hariel ordered.

Norman said nothing to counter her order, making the witch confused.

Charmander was much faster than before, but was stunned when Slakoth simply leaned out of the way at the last second.

Hariel blinked before understanding shone in her eyes.

"Scratch again!" Hariel ordered.

When Slakoth dodged again using the same method, Hariel smirked.

"Spin and use Iron Tail!"

Charmander immediately spun on her foot and slammed a now glowing metallic tail right into Slakoth's face for a critical hit. The pokémon was skidded a few feet away from the impact and now looked angry as opposed to its easy going expression moments before.

"Shadow Ball!" Norman ordered, knowing that Slakoth's dodging method wouldn't work against Hariel and Charmander anymore.

"Hit it right back and follow up with Flamethrower!" Hariel countered.

Norman widened his eyes, "Dodge!"

Using her tail, Charmander smacked the Shadow Ball right back at Slakoth who jumped over it, but in the air it was unable to dodge Charmander's Flamethrower.

Slakoth's fur was all singed and burnt from the Flamethrower and did not seem to be fairing very well.

"Hidden Power!"

Multiple white balls of power outlined in blue surrounded Slakoth for a moment before they shot at Charmander.

"Dodge!" Hariel commanded.

"Shadow Ball again!"

Charmander ran around, trying to dodge Hidden power when a Shadow Ball hit her directly while she was distracted. The fire lizard skidded back from the impact.

"Flamethrower again!"

"Dodge it, Slakoth!" Norman ordered.

Ironically, the sloth-like pokémon was fast on its feet and was able to dodge Charmander's Flamethrower.

"Iron Tail!"

Charmander was still faster than the other pokémon though.

The fire lizard quickly dashed over and hit Slakoth with Iron Tail, throwing the pokémon away.

Slakoth fainted when it hit the ground.

" _Slakoth is unable to battle! Charmander is the winner!_ "

"You did a great job, Charmander!" Hariel cheered, hugging the Fire Type close.

"Absol!" Absol said in agreement.

After being let go, Charmander eagerly got back onto the field, clearly ready for more.

Hariel saw no reason to deny Charmander is wish, but was cautious of what type of pokémon Norman would save for last. It would probably be his strongest pokémon.

"You're an excellent battler, Hariel. But how will you do against my Slaking?" Norman asked and released the pokémon.

It reminded her of a gorilla mixed with King Kong!

" **Slaking, the Lazy Pokémon. Slaking lives most of its life** **asleep** **, eating only grasses that grow within its reach.** "

Hariel swallowed. The pokémon radiated power, and she was honestly worried for her Charmander. But since it was clear that Charmander would not back down despite looking slightly nervous, then she would not either.

" _The battle between Slaking and Charmander will now begin!_ "

"Charmander use Flamethrower!" Hariel ordered. Unless she had a clear shot, close range was not an option.

"Slaking, use Earthquake!"

Slaking smirked and stomped on the ground, creating a pulsing Earthquake in the area and interrupting Charmander's Flamethrower.

Hariel bit her lip. Ground type moves were very effective on Fire Types like Charmander. Sure she trained Charmander to take hits from water-type moves, but ground types were a whole different matter.

"Charmander!" Charmander cried out in pain from the horrible vibrations she received from the quaking ground.

Even Absol could feel it from beside her.

"Finish him off with Focus Punch!" Norman commanded.

The large pokémon was surprisingly pretty speedy, and landed a perfect hit on Charmander, making the poor Fire Type fly straight into the wall behind her.

"Charmander!" Hariel gasped as the pokémon slid from the crater in the wall. The wood was completely splintered and had no doubt scratched Charmander's scales.

The tiny Fire Lizard was out cold.

" _Charmander is unable to battle, Slaking is the winner!_ "

"You did a great job, Charmander. Take a good long rest," Hariel said and returned her pokémon.

She thought for a moment on who would be best to take on Slaking. Luxray was out because he was weak against Earthquake and the attack would make him vulnerable like Charmander.

That left Kirlia and Milotic.

"Milotic, let's finish this up!" Hariel called out and released her pokémon. Milotic was able to levitate above the ground when she was out of the water, making her a perfect choice against Slaking who's Earthquake would be useless.

Milotic cooed upon being released, dazzling Kenny and Norman.

"What a beautiful Milotic," Norman praised.

It was very uncommon for anyone to challenge him with a pokémon most caught for contests.

"Thank you," Hariel smiled.

" _The battle between Slaking and Milotic will now begin!_ "

"Milotic, use water pulse around Slaking!"

"Huh?" Norman said in confusion before understanding dawned him when the ground underneath Slaking's feet became muddy and slippery.

It would be much harder to move now.

"Now, use Twister!" Hariel called out. Twister was a move that Milotic quickly learned under the harsh training the witch had put her through.

"Dodge, Slaking!" Norman commanded, but the Lazy Pokémon slipped on the mud instead and was directly hit.

"Now that it's now, slam him with Iron Tail!"

Milotic narrowed her eyes and swung her tail down onto Slaking's back, making the pokémon cry out in pain.

"Again!"

"Grab its tail and slam Milotic onto the ground!" Norman ordered.

Slaking caught the Iron Tail mid-swing and slammed the Water Type onto the ground, repeating the action over and over.

"Water Pulse!" Hariel commanded hurriedly.

Milotic managed to launch a Water Pulse that hit Slaking directly in the face, causing the pokémon to sputter and let go.

"Slap him with Iron Tail!"

Instead of swinging downwards, Milotic swung her tail sideways and caught the pokémon on the side of its head while it was still momentarily blinded from the Water Pulse.

"Now, barrage it with Twister!"

Letting loose a Twister from her tail, Slaking grunted in pain as it was barraged from all sides by the twister.

"Slaking, use Hyper Beam to cut through the Twister!" Norman ordered.

Slaking, while still under attack, managed to charge and fire a Hyper Beam to cut through the Twister.

"Dodge it!" Hariel commanded.

Thankfully, Milotic reacted in time and twisted out of the way of the Hyper Beam. However, Slaking looked battered and exhausted. It wouldn't take much now to render the pokémon unconscious to win the match.

"Water Pulse, rapid fire!"

"Dodge and use Focus Punch!"

Slaking, though hit by a few Water Pulses, still dodged most of the attack and was able to get close to Milotic with a Focus Punch all charged up and ready to go.

"Use Twister to push him back!" Hariel ordered.

"Dodge it and continue!" Norman countered.

Slaking was able to dodge the Twister and landed a good hit on Milotic's side.

Milotic cried out in pain as she flew into the wall, looking quite bruised and beaten, but not out of the count yet.

"Slaking? What's the matter with you?" Norman cried out in alarm.

Hariel smirked once she realized that Milotic's hidden ability Cute Charm had activated, meaning that Slaking was a male.

The pokémon had literal hearts in his eyes as he looked at Milotic with a love struck expression.

"Quick, while he's still infatuated, Water Pulse one more time!" Hariel ordered.

She wanted to use Refresh to heal Milotic, but she was worried that Cute Charm's effects would wear off before she could counter attack afterwards.

"Slaking, snap out of it!" Norman demanded.

Milotic fired another Water Pulse directly into Slaking's face, making the pokémon topple over from the impact. Slaking fell into the mud with a loud splat. It was over.

" _Slaking is unable to battle, which means the winner of this match is Hariel!_ " Kenny announced.

"We did it!" Hariel cheered, feeling a rush of adrenaline from the battle she had just participated in.

Milotic and Absol cheered with her, though the latter's was much more subdued.

"Return, Slaking. You did an excellent job," Norman said, returning his pokémon before turning to Hariel.

Kenny pulled out a small box and handed it over to Norman before the Gym Leader himself walked to Hariel.

"Hariel that was truly an intense battle. You did a fine job of raising and training your pokémon well," Norman praised before holding up the box and opening it, revealing the Balance Badge inside. "I'm happy to present to you the Balance Badge as proof of defeating my Gym. You've earned it."

Hariel picked up the badge with awe and thanked Norman.

"I'm just curious, but how many badges do you have now?" Norman asked.

"Umm…this is my first one…ever," Hariel said awkwardly.

There was a silence.

"WHAT?!" Kenny exclaimed, "What do you mean this is your first badge ever?"

Hariel scratched the back of her head sheepishly, "Well due to some family circumstances, I couldn't start my pokémon journey up until a couple weeks ago. I've never even owned or trained a pokémon before then!"

Norman and Kenny gaped at the girl. Her pokémon were that strong and she was that good at battling in a mere two weeks? Was she some sort of prodigy?!

Most people had about 2 or 3 badges before they challenged his Gym!

"You've got some great talent!" Norman happily let out, "I'll keep my eye on you! Good luck on your journey!"

"Thank you very much!" Hariel said, bowing before hurrying out the door to have Kirlia teleport her to the pokémon center.


	5. Chapter 5

Surprisingly she met up with Steven again not long after leaving Petalburg City as she and her pokémon were having lunch. He had stopped by to give her back the Gardevoirite. The Mega Stone was set into a necklace just like Absol's. Steven was proud that she did so well against Norman and won, as he was one of the tougher Gym Leaders around. Not to mention, not many trainers had 3 pokémon by the time they reached his gym from Littleroot Town. Even less managed to beat him which was why most of his matches were rematches.

Apparently, it was Roxanne that was the weakest Gym Leader in the Hoenn League and it was her job to prepare trainers for a higher level of battling. Though just because she was the weakest Gym Leader, did not mean she was actually weak. She taught young children at a pokémon trainer school and thus was quite resourceful when battling.

Then Hariel showed him the pass she had gotten from the supermarket.

"The Annual Festival at Cameron Palace? This is all the way in the Kanto Region!" Steven said with surprise. "But then again, this is a free ride there, though I'm not sure about the ride back."

"That's okay. I can just book a flight or something back," Hariel shrugged, "I just want to make the most of my journey, and I won't be participating in the Ever Grande Conference for another 8 months anyways, which means I have plenty of time."

"I see," Steven nodded. He had almost forgotten that Hariel had started her journey late. "Well then, would you like some company?"

"Huh? But aren't you busy? You are the _champion_ and the _heir_ to the Devon Corporation," Hariel revealed with a slight smirk.

Steven rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"You found out huh?"

"How many other silver-haired men have a Shiny Metagross?" Hariel asked, shrugged, "Besides, I only knew after I saw you on the front of one of those trainer magazines while waiting in the checkout line at the supermarket."

"You're not mad that I never told you, right?" Steven asked in a slightly nervous tone.

He didn't want the only woman he was currently interested in to be angry at him!

"What? Of course not," Hariel said truthfully.

There was nothing to hide as it was common knowledge amongst most people in Hoenn and even if Steven had told her outright, she probably would have thought he was bragging or something.

"That's a relief," Steven said with a sigh.

"I mean, it's not like I've been completely forthcoming about my background either," Hariel shrugged.

"Your background?" Steven asked curiously, pausing with a spoon of delicious stew halfway up to his mouth.

"My family was old money," Hariel confessed, telling the truth about background for once, "I've come from a long line of witches and wizards, though the modern populace call them psychics now."

"You're a Psychic?" Steven asked, wide eyed.

Hariel winked at him and had the spoon scoop up some stew from her bowl and feed it to her without the use of her hands. Steven blinked at the sight before looking at her with awe.

"That was how I was about to find the Mega stones to be honest. I could sense their strange power along with other evolution stones," Hariel confessed.

"I had wondered about that. I had explored that cave many times and never had I found 2 Mega Stones at once," Steven revealed.

"Kirlia actually first came to me because she was attracted to my psychic powers," Hariel said, gesturing to the Shiny pokémon who was happily conversing with Milotic as they ate lunch together.

"Interesting," Steven mused.

"But yes, it'd be great to have you with me during the festival," Hariel said with a slight blush.

"Great, it's a date!" Steven said happily.

Hariel blinked at the word "date" but it looked like Steven wouldn't take no for an answer.

Though…she had never been on a real date before…

It sounded rather exciting.

"A date huh? Sounds good to me," Hariel decided.

Steven looked at her with relief and happiness as his cheeks pinked slightly in delight.

Luckily, Steven had a bit of free time on his hands and was taking a small break from his duties as a Corporation Heir and Champion. Thus, he was able to travel with her for a bit even as they neared Rinshin Town on the way to Rustboro city.

He was able to give great tips on how to increase her pokémon's endurance as he specialized in Steel type pokémon, whom of which were famous for their endurance and high levels of defense.

His Metagross was able to take multiple Shadow Claws from Absol and Flamethrowers from Charmander without even breaking much of a sweat…if at all.

Then again, Steven had been with his Metagross for about 15 years now, so of course the pokémon was ridiculously strong. He had earned his Champion title for a reason. Thanks to being the best friend of a great trainer who specialized in Water type pokémon, Steven was even able to coach Milotic on how to use Scald.

Hariel had taken to pokémon training and care exceptionally well, Steven had thought.

He watched as she brushed Absol's fur, making it shine to perfection without a single tangle or odd tuft in sight. She also paid special attention to gently polish Absol's sensitive horn as well as clean his paws of dirt and debris every night. Absol certainly enjoyed the treatment and was content to lie on a sleeping mat that the pokémon used to sleep outside at night as she meticulously cleaned his paws and claws. Certainly Hariel's Absol was utterly gorgeous; a sure winner in Contests if she ever decided to try out and enter. It would be the same with Milotic.

Luxray's fur shined as well, as he had gotten the royal grooming treatment just minutes before. Charmander and Milotic also had their own scales polished to perfection and Kirlia was content to bathe herself in a basin of hot and soapy water.

Steven smiled when he Hariel glow with happiness as her pokémon nuzzled her in thanks.

* * *

It had taken quite a bit of time to get to Rustboro City, and she wanted to stock back up on supplies before she headed to the port where the plane ride to Kanto would be.

She had gone through quite a bit of food, medicine, and loads of Moo Moo Milk due to Absol's and Luxray's love for the stuff. If the drink wasn't so healthy for them, she would have tried to use the drink as a treat incentive rather than an accompaniment of breakfast and dinner. For lunch she had them drink berry juice instead and during breaks it was strictly water. She took to keeping their healthy diet very seriously as she still had horrible memories of Dudley stuffing his face and becoming fatter and fatter as the years passed by. Thank goodness he had taken to boxing to turn some of that fat into muscle otherwise he would have turned into a whale like Uncle Vernon.

With their perfect waste management structures (everything they ate and drank was converted into energy to create their attacks) she didn't have to clean up after them.

After making more supplies purchases along with refilling her drink capsules, she headed to the port where Steven was supposed to meet up with her. He had left a little over a week before to take care of some errands.

"Hariel, over here!" Steven called out, wearing his usual dark suite and red cravat.

Hariel smiled and she and Absol jogged over.

Unfortunately for Absol, he had to go into his pokéball as only small pokémon were allowed out on the flight.

Hariel and Steven talked about various things during the flight. The man had gotten his pass through the same supermarket and donated his purchases to a local orphanage. The children were thrilled to meet the champion and play with his pokémon, not to mention eat all the berries and play with the toys he had bought.

Hariel thought it was a nice gesture.

The two got closer on their flight before they soon landed just on the side of the large lake where Cameron Palace was situated on a large island right in the center.

"There it is!" Hariel said with awe.

The Cameron Palace reminded her of the grandness of Hogwarts, her first real home.

* * *

Once they got off the plane, Hariel released Absol from his ball and grabbed Steven's hand, practically dragging the Champion over to the great bridge while buzzing with excitement.

Steven laughed and allowed himself to be dragged. He couldn't help but think how warm Hariel's hand was and how perfectly it fit into his own he subtly laced their fingers together.

The festival was already in full swing. Children were running everywhere with their parents indulgently following after them, vendors were advertising their goods and souvenirs, food stalls were diligently completing orders from customers while simultaneously advertising their stalls with the use of wonderful smells, people playing at the game booths, and trainers were either talking to each other or even battling it out in designated areas.

Hariel wasn't the only one in awe. Absol was taking in the sights with wide eyes as well, and Steven looked much more relaxed than usual.

"Flare Flareon!"

"Huh?" Hariel turned to see a Flareon run at her with hearts in its eyes…or rather at Absol.

Steven chuckled slightly at the look of complete bafflement and uncertainty on Absol's normally stoic face when the female Flareon started cuddle up against him with love struck eyes.

"Uhh…" Hariel was at a loss of what to do and so was Absol.

It was clear that Absol was not interested in Flareon.

How funny that humans could not always tell gender right away yet with pokémon it was instinct, and that pokémon could like other species of pokémon and even breed with them, though the egg always turned out to be the same species as the mother.

"I'm so sorry about Flareon, she just ran off on me!" a young man said, panting as he ran over before getting a good glimpse at Hariel, "Well hello, gorgeous!"

The young man had light brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, and was decently good looking. Nothing outstanding like Steven however.

"Umm…" Hariel backed away from the young man who seemed determined to invade her personal space and grabbed onto Steven's arm.

Steven looked slightly annoyed at the sight of the young man trying to horrendously flirt with his date, but couldn't stifle a spark of amusement when Hariel quickly backed away from the stranger and hugged the Champion's arm instead.

"Oh…let's go Flareon," the man said with clear disappointment.

Flareon wasn't keen on leaving, but the man returned her to her pokéball and that was the end of that.

"That was strange…" Hariel said with Absol nodding in agreement.

"Stay close if you want to use me as a meat shield for strangers," Steven teased.

Hariel gave Steven a flat look but smiled none the less, intertwining their fingers once again as the Champion led them over to the souvenir stalls.

Steven and Hariel both thoroughly enjoyed their date as they tried new foods, browsed through the souvenir stalls, and took pictures of things that caught their eye.

When the sun set just after dinner, the many of the festival goers were starting to head back home or to their respective hotels back across the bridge. Tomorrow was a pokémon tournament and the winner would be crowned Hero of the Year.

* * *

The tournament required you to wear renaissance costumes. Though spectators were allowed to borrow and wear them as well.

Steven opted out of the tournament as he was a Champion, it would be unfair to compete as he would most likely win. Hariel offered to let him borrow one of her own pokémon, but Steven stated that he would rather watch her battle in her lovely dress.

Hariel had chosen a brilliant emerald green gown and with a bit of magic, she had sized it to fit her better. She had even gotten Steven to dress up with her and had picked out a nice dark medieval suit with a black feathered hat.

"You look so handsome!" Hariel grinned and promptly took a picture of him.

Steven smiled and took the complement with grace, "And you look stunning as well."

Hariel glowed and kissed his cheek before more people came into the room.

It was a dark haired boy with a Pikachu, a girl with a bandanna, a small boy with large green glasses, and a teen with dark skin.

As soon as the teen saw her, hearts appeared in the place of his slit eyes.

"Oh my fair princess, you are a dream come—ACK!" the teen was suddenly dragged off by the ear by the small boy with glasses.

"And your dream has come to an end!" the boy grounded out, sounding like he had done this every other day.

"Hello there, oh, what's that pokémon?" Hariel asked and pulled out her pokédex, completely ignoring the commotion.

" **Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pichu. Pikachu can help other Pikachu who are feeling weak by sharing its electric current.** "

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town," the boy with the Pikachu said.

"I'm Max," said the youngest boy.

"Brock," the dark skinned teen said once he had gotten himself back together.

"And I'm May," the girl said.

"Whoa, cool pokémon," Ash said, looking at Absol and pulled out his pokédex as well.

" **Absol, the Disaster Pokémon. Absol live in steep mountainous regions, and rarely venture down into areas inhabited by humans, but should an Absol be seen by humans, it is said that catastrophe is soon to follow.** "

"Don't worry about that, it's just a myth," Hariel refuted as she took in the apprehensive looks on the group's face, "Absol actually can sense the subtle changes in the land and sky with his horn, and he tries to warn nearby settlements about incoming natural disasters. However, this has the unfortunate effect of mislabeling Absol as a doom bringer."

Honestly, Absol of this dimension were reminiscent of black cats in her dimension.

"That's amazing," Ash said, looking awed.

The group looked relieved at such a logical explanation.

"Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu greeted with a friendly smile.

"Absol," Absol nodded in greeting as well.

"Forgive me, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Hariel Evans."

"Ash, it's been a while. How have you been?" Steven asked politely as he joined the conversation.

"Steven!" the group chorused with happiness.

"Wow Steven, I heard you made were made the Champion of the Hoenn League a few months ago!" Max said with starry eyes.

"Oh, you've met before?" Hariel asked curiously.

"We can talk more after the tournament. It's starting soon, isn't it?" Steven asked, gesturing at the clock in the corner of the room.

The group then hurried into their costumes, even dressing up Pikachu as a tiny jester.

* * *

Steven stood with Max, May, and Brock on the sidelines as the crowd cheered.

"Presenting her royal majesty, the illustrious ruler of Cameron Palace, Lady Ilene!"

From the top balcony stepped out a beautiful woman in a pink gown. She had long pale blonde hair and fair skin, and was holding an adorable Mime Jr. in her arms.

"And now, in honour of Sir Aaron and his noble deeds, we will begin our annual pokémon contest!" the Queen announced, much to the delight of the crowd and townsfolk.

Brock, May, Max, and Steven cheered for both Hariel and Ash as they continued on through the tournament.

Trainers were only allowed to use one pokémon throughout the tournament in 1 vs 1 battles.

Ash was using his Pikachu while Hariel used Absol.

Throughout the tournament, Hariel had ignored the crowd as best she could. Stage fright still affected her on an occasion. It wasn't like Quidditch where people were watching the whole team. Now people watched both you and your pokémon…even if it was mostly your pokémon.

Soon, before anyone knew it, the finals were up. Ash had beaten a trainer with a Weavile while Hariel defeated a trainer and his Gengar.

"The Final Match will now begin!" the referee announced.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered with a large smile.

Clearly the boy was having a lot of fun.

"Cut through with Psycho Cut!" Hariel commanded, having just as much fun as Ash.

Absol's attack cut through Thunderbolt and managed to hit Pikachu, but the electric mouse just shook it off with a determined expression.

"Iron Tail!"

"Dark Pulse!"

Pikachu charged at Absol with Iron Tail raring to go, but Absol blasted the electric mouse away with a direct Dark Pulse.

"Pikachu, are you okay?" Ask asked, and his partner nodded with narrowed eyes, "Man, Hariel and her Absol sure are tough!"

"Shadow Claw!" Hariel commanded.

"Dodge it!"

Absol swiped at Pikachu multiple times, but the speedy mouse was able to dodge.

"Switch tactics, use Razor Wind!" Hariel commanded.

"Use quick attack to dodge!" Ash countered.

"Megahorn!" Hariel ordered.

Absol's eyes sharpened and attacked with his enlarged and powered up horn when Pikachu got close.

With a perfect critical hit, Pikachu was thrown back and looked worse for wear. Only one more hit and Pikachu would be out.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Dodge it!" Hariel commanded.

Dodge training was big on her team. During her duels back then in the Battle of Hogwarts, she was good at dodging. You can't hurt what you can't hit, after all.

"Let's finish this up, use Night Slash!" Hariel ordered.

After skillfully dodging the Thunderbolt with immense grace, Absol quickly charged in and critically hit Pikachu once again with Night Slash this time. Super Luck was a great ability to have.

"Pikachu is unable to battle, Absol is the winner! We have a new Guardian for the year, Hariel Evans from Mahou Town!" the referee announced as Ash picked up his exhausted Pikachu.

Steven nodded proudly.

Hariel and Ash shook hands amicably.


	6. Chapter 6

After the tournament, there was a large party held in congratulations for Hariel winning the tournament.

Hariel nervously stood on stage as Queen Ilene walked towards her with a staff in her arms.

From the crystal of the staff, Hariel could sense something…powerful and alive.

"This is the staff of the Guardian that once belonged to the great Sir Aaron," Queen Ilene revealed. "In tradition to our contest, the winner of the tournament is named Aura Guardian of the Year and is presented with this staff."

"Incredible," Hariel breathed.

"Absol," the Dark type looked at the staff with wonder.

"On the behalf of my Kingdom, this staff is yours for the duration of your stay here," Queen Ilene said.

"I am honoured," Hariel bowed and Absol copied her action as she graciously was gifted the staff.

* * *

As Queen Ilene went to announce the start of the ball, Hariel looked at the crystal intently.

"Is something the matter, Hariel?" Steven asked as he walked over.

"This staff…no…this crystal. There is something sealed inside it," Hariel said, concentrating and furrowing her brow.

"Something sealed?" Steven asked questioningly.

Hariel probed the crystal with her magic and could definitely feel a pulse of life inside. She felt anger, resentment, betrayal, and sadness and tried to sooth its desolate emotions.

"Whatever or whoever is sealed in here is…anger and bitter. It feels sad and betrayed…I wonder what could have happened," Hariel said worriedly.

Steven wrapped an arm around her in comfort.

"Hey Hariel, I can't believe that staff really belonged to Sir Aaron!" Ash said with excitement, walking up to her.

"I can't believe it either…" Hariel said, sharing a glance with Steven.

And Steven was pretty freaked out by the portrait of Sir Aaron over all. The man looked just like a friend of his named Riley, who he himself was studying to become an Aura Guardian. Riley was a young man who studied a bit under Steven's tutelage as the former wanted to specialize in Steel Types like the Champion.

* * *

As the dancing began, Ash and May let out their pokémon for some fun and Hariel did as well.

Metagross and Skarmory were a bit big so Steven opted to keep them in their balls for now.

"May I ask the Guardian for a dance?" Steven asked gallantly, appealing to the Queen's maid at Hariel's side. Hariel was supposed to keep watch over the party as a _dignified_ observer, but Steven's charms allowed the maid to be swayed for just one dance.

Steven elegantly led Hariel through the waltz, making it easy for the witch to follow.

"So have you had any luck figuring out that staff?" Steven asked.

"It calms down when it's just me and you, but oddly enough when Ash gets near the staff, it gets agitated again," Hariel answered.

"But Ash hasn't done anything to the staff," Steven said confused.

"It's possible that Ash's energy feels similar to whoever had sealed the being away in the staff in the first place. Everyone has a different feel to their energies, even you," Hariel said.

Which was true, but only if she was looking for it. Sensing wasn't a talent she activated all the time.

Steven decided to keep quiet and enjoy the dance with Hariel, and when the song ended, he led her back to the chair she had once been sitting on.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Steven said, and placed a kiss upon her hand before leaving to get a drink for the both of them.

"My, he's a keeper," the maid giggled.

Hariel blushed slightly in response.

* * *

Soon the night came to an end.

"Now the Guardian will signal for the fireworks display," Queen Ilene said.

"Assume the pose of the Guardian!" the maid whispered.

Hariel took one look at the handsome and heroic portrait of Sir Aaron and copied his pose.

Steven grinned and took a picture of Hariel.

The fireworks then went off and the crowd oohed and awed at the beautiful display.

Before long though, the merriment was disrupted when the staff started to glow brightly.

"What's going on?" the maid asked, stunned.

"The staff…whatever is sealed inside is breaking free!" Hariel explained before she was pushed back and caught by Steven.

A blue jackal-like pokémon appeared kneeling before the crowd. It then stood up and seemed to be looking around and looking for something despite the fact that its eyes were clearly closed. It ran towards Hariel before looking around once again.

It seemed to have found whatever it was looking for in Ash and dashed over to him.

"Sir Aaron! Why did you abandon the queen?!" the pokémon demanded.

"What? I don't understand?" Ash replied with nervousness and confusion.

The pokémon then opened its eyes and jumped back in shock once it got a good look at Ash. It looked around in great confusion before running away.

"What was that?" Ash asked.

"That was a Lucario," Steven answered, looking amazed. "But I've never seen a Lucario who could use Telepathy. Incredible!"

"Lucario is a pokémon, who according to the legends, served under Sir Aaron," Queen Ilene answered.

"In there?" Ash asked incredulously, gesturing to the staff still in Hariel's hands.

* * *

Ash's group, Steven, Hariel, and the Queen gave chase to Lucario and eventually found him in a mausoleum full of antiques in glass classes.

"Lady Rin!" Lucario exclaimed, perking up with joy.

The maid turned on the lights and Queen Ilene smiled sadly.

"Unfortunately I'm not who you think I am. I am Lady Ilene, and Lady Rin was an ancestor of mine," Queen Ilene clarified as she slowly walked up to the pokémon and hugged him. "You've been asleep for a long time, Lucario."

"Is it possible?" Lucario asked, stunned.

"I'm telling you the truth," Queen Ilene said sadly.

"But I was just in this room a few days ago!" Lucario denied.

"Believe me, it may have seemed like a few days to you, but the reality is that you haven't walked inside this palace for centuries," Queen Ilene explained.

Lucario looked absolutely gob smacked and looked around the room at all the artifacts. Everything, despite being well taken care of, were old and clearly aged. Nothing new like he had once seen.

* * *

"According to the legends, a few days before the end of the battle, you disappeared," Queen Ilene said once everyone had been sent home except for Ash and his friends, Steven, and Hariel.

" _The two armies were on the move, and the palace was right in between them. I was sent out to see if I could stop the battle…but it was hopeless,_ " Lucario revealed.

"But then, how was Sir Aaron able to make peace?" Ash asked curiously.

"What?"

"Our legend said that Sir Aaron found a way to end the battle and save the palace," the Queen explained.

"Impossible! Sir Aaron deserted the queen! He fled and trapped me inside the staff," Lucario said with a slight slump.

"Could it be that the legend is wrong?" Brock asked.

"Clearly we're missing something," Hariel sighed.

"We'll look into this further and determine what is truth and what is fiction," Queen Ilene said finally.

"I will do my best to help you," Lucario promised.

"Lucario, one thing hasn't changed," Queen Ilene smiled. "This palace is your home. Please feel free to stay here for as long as you like."

"I am deeply grateful to you," Lucario said, bowing to the queen.

"Hey Lucario, how come you thought I was Sir Aaron? Does this costume make me look like him?" Ash asked.

"No, it's because your aura is similar to Sir Aaron's," Lucario answered.

"So I was right," Hariel said.

"Right? About what?" May asked.

"When I was near the staff, I could sense that something, or rather, someone was inside the crystal. I could feel Lucario's emotions and I did my best to soothe them," Hariel said. "Lucario was calm near me, but whenever Ash was near the staff, he became agitated again."

"How can you tell something like that?" Brock asked.

"I've come from a long line of Psychics," Hariel explained.

"Like Sabrina!" Ash said suddenly.

"Sabrina?"

"Sabrina was the Saffron City Gym Leader who specializes in Psychic pokémon. She herself is a Psychic as well," Ash explained.

Brock shivered at the memory of the woman.

Then the conversation was interrupted when Max and all the pokémon came running into the room.

Max then got into a big spiel about how he saw the legendary pokémon Mew, and another woman, Kidd Summers, had confirmed Max's story. Queen Ilene and her maid also backed the two up, saying that Mew would come every once in a while to play, cause mischief, and even take toys.

However, the most astonishing thing was that Absol, Pikachu, and a Meowth were taken by Mew as well.

"Lux Luxray," Luxray's tail drooped. He didn't like his rival gone.

Milotic also cooed in sadness.

* * *

Queen Ilene and her maid showed the group to the highest balcony in the Palace where one could see what looked to be a giant tree on top of a mountain in the near distance.

"Do you see that? In the distance? That may look like a tree, but it's actually a rock formation," Queen Ilene said.

"Because of its great age, our ancestors called it the Tree of Beginning," the maid said.

Steven looked especially interested as he had a love for things like this. He had never heard of this rock formation before and wondered what kind of wonderful stones could be found there.

"That is where you can find Mew," Queen Ilene said.

"Great!" Ash said with determination.

"You must remember that Mew can change into any pokémon in the world," Queen Ilene warned. "It rarely shows its true form to humans so you may have trouble recognizing it."

"Then how are we going to find it?" May asked incredulously.

"Legend says that Lucario can lead the Guardian to anyone because he had learned to see the aura inside all things," the maid said.

"Lucario, do you really have the ability to see Aura?" Queen Ilene asked.

"I do," Lucario confirmed.

"Then can you lead Ash and Hariel to Mew?"

"If that is your wish," Lucario acquiesced with a bow. "It will be my honour."

"Hey Ash, Hariel, I'll go with you guys to the Tree of Beginning," Kidd said, revealing herself in a tight pink spandex suit with pink knee pads.

Her hair was also up in outrageously poofy pigtails on either side of her head.

Brock then recognized Kidd for who she was. The woman had the world record for holding the most world records in history and was some sort of modern day superwoman.

Apparently the woman wanted to find out all she could about the Tree of beginning to set another world record.

Hariel narrowed her eyes at that.

* * *

Later on after everyone was shown their rooms for the night, Hariel couldn't sleep and decided to follow Lucario. She could sense that he was troubled as he looked up at the portrait of Sir Aaron. Before she knew it, he disappeared and if it wasn't for her reflexes honed from dueling with Death Eaters, she would have been caught off guard from behind.

Hariel immediately flared up a shield and repelled the offender, who turned out to be Lucario.

"Why did you attack me?" Hariel asked.

"You snuck up on me, and that is always a mistake," Lucario replied.

Despite being repelled, he had managed to catch himself and land gracefully back onto the floor.

"I had just wanted to thank you for helping me and Ash find Absol and Pikachu," Hariel said sincerely.

"Are you Absol's master?" Lucario asked.

"In a way, some could call our relationship that. But truly, Absol is my dear friend and companion," Hariel answered.

"Friend?" Lucario questioned as if the concept was foreign to him.

"Yes…friends," Hariel confirmed, "Tell me Lucario, what was your relationship with Sir Aaron?"

"Sir Aaron was my master. He had taught he how to use Aura and he was very kind to me…but he betrayed the Lady Rin, me, and sealed me inside that staff," Lucario said, full of resentment.

"And yet the legends say that he was a Hero," Hariel said, striking a chord within Lucario, "Do you ever think that there is more to the tale of Sir Aaron than you know?"

"What more could there possibly be?" Lucario huffed angrily.

"If Sir Aaron taught you all he knew about Aura, and was kind to you, and even gave you a home…In what world would it make sense for him to suddenly turn his back on the Kingdom and its Queen he had served so faithfully? Why would he suddenly betray you seal you side that staff? For what purpose? As it stated in the Legend, the battle ended not long after you disappeared. Clearly there is something big we're missing, and I'm sure Sir Aaron is right in the center of it," Hariel said as she made her way to the exit of the ballroom.

Lucario looked thoughtful as he stared at the portrait of Sir Aaron.

"I have a feeling that we might get our answers at the Tree of Beginning," Hariel said. "But until then, try to hold your opinion. It's quite possible that your side of the story is true…but there's an even bigger possibility that it's not."

After she left, Lucario looked at where Hariel once was.

Like Sir Aaron, Hariel was strong for a human. She too had a great amount and control of her Aura…though her power was a bit different. It was like it was more…refined in a sense. Like there something alien about it, yet Hariel herself was not malicious. It was difficult to read her mind, but he could at least discern that much.

She held a noble heart, like Sir Aaron, and she seemed to firmly believe what she had said about his former master.

Could she be right? Could there be something about Sir Aaron he was missing?

 _'Sir Aaron, I will find out the truth!'_ Lucario vowed.


	7. Chapter 7

The group head out early in the morning just after breakfast. Lucario led the way to the Tree of Beginning while Kidd drove everyone in her Humvee. Brock and Steven, being the tallest and largest in body size out of the group sat up front with Kidd while May, Ash, Max, and Hariel squeezed in at the back.

Brock looked to be on cloud nine sitting next to his idol while Steven contently sat at the window seat.

Everyone listened intently while Kidd explained what Aura actually was. Steven was unsurprised as he already knew, and Hariel was comparing Aura to magic. They were both essences of life that could be channeled in many different ways. Though whereas Aura was in everyone, Magic was not. Magic was created and used when channeling earth's natural energies. Over time, humans had come to refine their abilities and bred with magical creatures such as vampires and Veela, strengthening their magical abilities and heritage. Even muggleborns had ancestors of magical descent; it would have been impossible for them to have gain magic otherwise.

After a few hours of driving, everyone agreed to take a break for lunch.

Brock was pleasantly surprised that Hariel could cook too and things went much quicker as the two quickly prepared lunch.

As the two cooked, Kidd, May, and Ash helped Steven set up the table to eat. Then Max gleefully help the champion feed the pokémon. Steven then took a bowl of chopped up berries and a couple of Chocolate PokéPuffs and gave them to Lucario, who was eating some wild berries growing nearby.

"Here you go, Lucario. Hariel made this for you. She didn't know what food you like, but berries are a staple to just about every pokémon," Steven smiled.

"She made this for me?" Lucario asked, looking thoughtfully at the dark haired beauty that was plating everything up before it was going to be served. "And what are those?"

"These are called PokéPuffs. They're a kind of treat that are enjoyed by both humans and pokémon alike," Steven said, "Hariel thought you might like to try one."

"PokéPuffs?" Lucario asked and cautiously took a bite out of treat. He widened his eyes. "This is delicious!"

"I'm sure Hariel would love to hear that you like it," Steven smiled.

Soon there was a small commotion where a Bonsly had taken one of the lunch plates, but Lucario quickly snatched up the stolen plate.

"Do not take what isn't yours. Here, eat this instead," Lucario scolded before handing the pokémon a vine of the sweet wild berries he had been eating before Hariel had graciously gave him some food.

The Bonsly quickly snatched the vine of berries from Lucario's hand and hid behind the boulder Lucario was sitting on, munching on the berries while looking at the group of humans with great curiosity.

"Those pokémon treats look just like cupcakes!" May squealed as she near drooled at the sight of desert.

"Thank you. They're much more popular in the Kalos region. Hoenn is famous for their pokéblock, Sinnoh for their Poffins, and Kalos for their PokéPuffs," Hariel said, "If you want, I can give Brock the recipe so he can try them another time."

"Thanks a lot!" Brock said happily.

* * *

A few hours later, the group were stopped by a valley of active geysers, and could not pass until the geysers calmed down.

Even though Steven offered to have his Metagross use Psychic to carry everyone including the Humvee across the valley, they voted to stay to take a break at the hot springs that was situated right next to the geysers.

As everyone had fun in the water, Hariel felt that Lucario was feeling both sad and nostalgic at the sight of the hot spring. As evening was fast approaching, the group decided to pass the valley of geysers after breakfast the next morning. Though the discovery of Time Flowers were interesting.

Hariel happily made stew for dinner and even shared some with Lucario, who had never had such a thing before.

Everyone was curious at how Hariel had met Absol, and she had revealed to them a bit about her past and why she had started her journey late.

She had met Absol when he had been cornered by a Pokémon Poacher, and scared the poacher away with her powers. Absol had decided to follow her ever since and officially became her first pokémon.

When Ash was telling the story of how he and Pikachu became friends despite the fact that the latter had clearly disliked him when they had first met, Hariel could sense Lucario becoming frustrated.

"Lucario, can I talk to you for a moment?" Hariel cut in before Lucario could blow up at his anger.

The witch suspected the reason why Ash had bothered Lucario so much was because his Aura felt similar to that of Sir Aaron, who brought up both good and bad memories.

Lucario nodded and Hariel led the Fighting and Steel type pokémon away from the group to cool off.

"I suspect the reason why you're feeling so frustrated right now is because you have yet to find any answers regarding Sir Aaron," Hariel said as she and Lucario stood under a nearby tree, looking up at the moon and stars.

"…Yes," Lucario confirmed.

"I see. And what do you believe about Sir Aaron?" Hariel asked gently.

"I want to believe in the good times I had studying under Sir Aaron but…" Lucario said with hurt in his tone.

"But the sting of Sir Aaron's apparent betrayal still lingers strongly within you," Hariel finished.

Lucario nodded.

"Well…let me tell you a story then," Hariel said and sat down, gesturing for Lucario to do the same, and he did.

Hariel sighed and looked up at the stars.

"When I was a girl, I knew a man that I had thought despised me. He called me names and insulted my father, and I in turn despised him and insulted him back. But the funny thing is that after he died, I had found out that he had been protecting me all along," Hariel said softly, "Despite what he had thought of me, he protected me from the shadows and looked out for me when I was in trouble. I had found out that he had been childhood friends of my mother, and was deeply in love with her. But they had a falling out and she never spoke to him again and ended up marrying his greatest rival and bully, my father. Still, despite that, he looked after me. I daresay that if it wasn't for him, I would have been died or worse."

"Who was after you?" Lucario asked.

"My family comes from old money, and I stood to inherit it all. Not to mention, I was a strong psychic, there were many who hoped to get rid of me before I became a real threat. Let's say…there was another clan of psychics who despised my clan. They thought that Psychics should rule the world and those who weren't born with powers were those of lesser being. They called them mudbloods…those with dirty blood," Hariel sighed, "But the point of this story was to tell you that things aren't always what they seem. I had thought the man had despised me had hated me, but he had saved my life instead."

Lucario nodded, deep in thought.

"Until we find out the whole truth, don't listen to the anger within you. Rejoice in the good memories you had with Sir Aaron," Hariel said softly. "And don't mind Ash too much. He just greatly misses his friend."

"Do you miss Absol as well?"

"Of course I do. He is my first true friend since coming on this journey, and I trust him to stay safe until I can find him again. I would never give up on Absol just like I would never give up on you either," Hariel said, "Because you're my friend too, Lucario."

"I'm your friend? Why?"

"Because I like you. Is that not enough?" Hariel asked before she got up and pulled something out of her pocket.

She unwrapped it and broke off a piece before handing it to Lucario.

"What is it?" Lucario asked curiously, looking at the brown block with questioning eyes. It was the same color as the PokéPuffs she had Steven give him earlier that day.

"It's called chocolate, and it was the main ingredient in the PokéPuffs you ate at lunch today," Hariel said and broke off another piece before putting it into her mouth.

Lucario looked at her before putting the piece of chocolate into his mouth, widening his eyes at the burst of flavour from within.

"It's wonderful," Lucario said with awe and was handed another piece.

The two continued to share chocolate with one another until the entire bar was finished. Now that Lucario had sufficiently calmed down, they headed back to camp.

Lucario still sat a bit distantly from the group and Hariel headed straight for Steven.

"How is he?" Steven asked.

"He's still working through some issues involving Sir Aaron. If I hadn't had cut in, he probably would have blown up at Ash," Hariel said, basking in the warmth Steven's body heat.

"You're doing a good thing," Steven said and kissed her forehead.

Hariel just smiled and cuddled into his side. The group slept under the stars that night.

* * *

The next morning after passing the valley of Geysers, Lucario had come across a Time Flower and accidentally triggered it.

It revealed a vision of Sir Aaron sealing Lucario into the staff and flying away on a Pidgeot before an army passed through the Valley.

Lucario had gotten both confused and upset at the vision, thinking the army was real and started attacking the illusionary army using Aura Sphere.

"Stop it Lucario, it's just a vision! It's not real!" Hariel called out.

Lucario snapped out of it and ran a short ways away, feeling even more resentful than before.

"I think Lucario is right, Sir Aaron is not hero. He just abandoned Lucario," Brock said with a scowl.

"And he fled from the fight too," Max said, disappointed.

"So the legend was wrong?" Kidd asked.

"You guys aren't looking at this properly," Hariel said, calling everyone's attention.

"What do you mean? It seemed pretty clear to me," May said.

"Didn't you see where Sir Aaron was headed?" Hariel asked before Steven blinked with understanding.

"Where he was going? He just flew away," Ash said.

"He may have fled from this particular spot, but he went that way. In the direction of—"

"The Tree of Beginning!" Steven finished.

"And the legend said that not long after Lucario had disappeared, the Tree of Beginning let loose a light that stopped all the fighting!" Ash said excitedly.

"So Sir Aaron is still a hero!" Max said excitedly before Lucario dashed towards the group clearly sensing something.

Lucario was much more adept at sensing than her, but even she could start to feel the annoyance of something.

Then, out of the ground came out a large rock pokémon.

"Regirock!" Steven said, astonished.

Regirock threw the Humvee and attacked when with a Hyper Beam.

"Metagross, intercept that with Psychic!" Steven commanded and released his pokémon.

"Meta!" Metagross' eyes glowed blue and the Hyper Beam was redirected towards the sky.

Lucario then shot an Aura Sphere at the legendary pokémon to distract it before leading everyone away from the area and into a tunnel, where Steven had to recall his pokémon because it was too big to fit.

"Why did that Regirock attack us?" Ash asked.

"We're close to the Tree of Beginning. Legendary pokémon don't attack without reason. It was probably trying to give us a warning," Steven explained.

"Precisely," Lucario agreed.

Steven had to resist the urge from taking rock samples because even he knew it wasn't right to mess with something that legendary pokémon fought to protect.

Once they reached the end of the tunnel, everyone gasped in awe. Inside there was a large underground lake filled with crystal clear water. The cave chamber was lit by a giant glowing crystal attached to the ceiling and the place was crawling prehistoric and rare pokémon.

Pokémon that most likely wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for the Tree of Beginning.

Now that they were just below the Tree, Hariel could feel everything. It was if the place was alive!

Running up a head with Steven, Ash, and Lucario, she didn't witness Kidd planting probes otherwise she would have destroyed them on the spot.

There were just some mysteries better left unsolved.

"Pikachu! Are you there, buddy?" Ash called out.

"Absol! Can you hear me?" Hariel called out as well.

Despite beautiful view, they wanted to be reunited with their pokémon as soon as possible.

* * *

Pikachu's ear twitched and he swore that he had just heard Ash's voice.

 _'I hear Hariel's voice as well! Let's go!'_ Absol urged before he and Pikachu ran off. Mew and Meowth were quick to follow.

 **"Pikachuuuuu! If you can hear me, give me a sign!"**

 **"Absol? Are you there? Please give me a sign as well!"**

Pikachu and Absol looked at each other with happiness and called out to their respective trainers.

* * *

There was a faint echoing, but Pikachu's and Absol's voice could be heard quite clearly.

"Oh thank goodness, he's alright," Hariel sighed in relief.

She and Ash hurried ahead with Steven and Lucario hot on their heels, but the former two were stopped with Regice got in their way and shot an Ice Beam at them.

Lucario was able to deflect the second Ice Beam with Aura Sphere and stopped Steven from battling the legendary.

"It's no use trying to reason with it. Let's backtrack instead," Lucario said and led them in another direction.

No matter what, they were still trespassing on a sacred pokémon habitat.

As they were led into other part of the Tree after reuniting with the rest of the group and Kidd, along with some other people everyone but Hariel and Kidd recognized as Team Rocket, Regirock rejoined the chase with a new partner Registeel.

Before Steven could admire the legendary Steel type pokémon, Hariel dragged him off to follow Lucario.

"Metagross, help Lucario, keep Registeel and Regirock off our tail!" Steven commanded.

"Meta!"

As they were running, the group witnesses some sort of red blob on the shape of a pokémon capture Jessie, the Team Rocket woman with the red hair, and made her disappear.

"Uh…you don't think those red blobs are like white blood cells, do you?" Hariel asked nervously.

"White blood cells?" Kidd swallowed.

"Yeah…the Tree is the body, the red blobs are the white blood cells, and we're the invading bacteria…" Hariel said and everyone paled at her words.

It was then that James (seriously, blue hair? Hariel thought) was caught as well. Before he was fully consumed, at least the man had cared enough about his pokémon to release them before he disappeared completely as well, leaving his pokémon confused as to what had happened to their trainer.

Before they could the other direction, Regirock and Registeel caught up with them.

Lucario shot an Aura Sphere at the legendary pokémon while Metagross bulldozed through some red blobs with Meteor Mash, clearing the way to run.

Kidd's informant ended up telling her exactly what Hariel had just said moments before.

However, the woman dallied too long recording the red blob's activity and would have been caught if it wasn't for Lucario who pushed her out of the way.

But the red blob didn't harm him like it did Jessie and James.

"This is a sacred pokémon habitat. I would suppose that the Tree doesn't consider them to be a danger," Hariel mused before Regirock and Registeel caught up once again, prompting everyone to keep running.

Honestly, if it wasn't for Absol, she would have taken the group and apparated out of here a long time ago. Kirlia could help in that regard too.

When it came to two tunnels, Ash convinced Kidd to take Brock, May, and Max to find an exit where they would meet up later while his group distracted the legendaries.

Hariel then noticed that Lucario wasn't leaving either.

"You aren't leaving, Lucario?" Hariel asked.

"I won't leave until you find Absol and Ash finds Pikachu. I'd know you both would do the same for me," Lucario said with a smile.

Hariel smiled before she noticed Regirock and Registeel get closer.

"Kirlia, come on out! Use Shadow Ball!"

"Metagross use Flash Cannon!"

The two pokémon charged up their respective attacks and let loose, pushing the legendaries back a bit, though Metagross' Flash Cannon had blown Registeel much farther back due to its higher power.

The four continued.


	8. Chapter 8

They soon continued on until they came to a chamber with three tunnels. Lucario was about to lead the group through the center one, but Hariel and Ash heard their respective pokémon's voices coming from the right tunnel and promptly followed it.

When Ash had saw Pikachu on the other side of the canyon with only bridges and branches of ice connecting the two, he wasted no time and climbing the ice branches despite the fact it was extremely windy outside.

"Ash?! What the hell do you think you're doing, you reckless boy!" Hariel exploded.

Steven, Metagross, Kirlia, and Lucario took a fearful step back from the furious woman.

Then she saw Absol trying to do the same thing.

Okay, she knew that Absol was used to climbing the cliffs of windy mountains, but come on!

Hariel breathed and levitated herself off the ground to the amazement of those around her and flew towards Absol, who nearly slipped and fell due to his eagerness to reunite with his trainer.

Hariel thankfully caught the pokémon and Absol nuzzled her exuberantly and licked her face all over in happiness.

"I missed you too, Absol!" Hariel laughed before she remembered Pikachu and Ash.

She turned, only to see that Steven thankfully had Metagross catch them both with Psychic. Not a moment later, Kidd came swinging down to join them.

Once she flew back to the group and set Absol down on the ground, she rounded on Ash.

"What the hell did you think you were doing? What if you fell without Metagross here to catch you?" Hariel scolded, making both Pikachu and Ash rub their heads sheepishly.

Admittedly, it was very reckless of them. It was then that Hariel was introduced to Mew and a talking Meowth.

Honestly, she thought she was done with the crazy adventures.

But they had no time to dwell on it as Regice and finally found them.

They had learned from Kidd that May, Max, and Brock had been caught by the red blobs as well. As they tried to escape, they finally found an exit through the roof of the next cavern chamber.

"I'll levitate us out of here," Hariel said but was distracted when Lucario was caught by Registeel.

With that, the red blobs pounced on them, making their fate inevitable.

Hariel gritted her teeth and released all her pokémon. The blobs weren't allowing her to apparate.

They were absolutely horrified as to what was happening and Absol was quick to grab onto her jacket sleeve with his teeth. He and her other pokémon tried to help him pull her out, but it was no use.

Ash's pokémon were trying to pull their respective trainer out and Steven's were doing their best to save their trainer as well, but failed.

"I'm so glad I got you meet you guys. I love you all," Hariel tearfully said and looked towards Steven, who released his Skarmory.

Steven said his goodbyes to his pokémon as well before looking back at Hariel and the last thing either of them saw were each other's eyes.

When all the humans disappeared, the pokémon were devastated.

Pikachu, Phanpy, and Corphish were crying over the ground where Ash had disappeared with Grovyle and Swellow looking just as sad.

Metagross and Skarmory looked heartbroken at the loss of their beloved trainer. The two huddled over the spot where Steven once was.

Absol cried over the spot where Hariel disappeared along with Kirlia, Milotic, and Charmander. Luxray looked just as heartbroken and lied down next to the spot and would refuse to leave.

Lucario looked downtrodden. He had gotten close to Ash and Hariel, especially the latter, who took the time to talk to him, cook for him, share her treats with him, and understand him.

* * *

Hariel felt light. There was nothing wherever she was.

Eternal darkness.

Until she felt dirt underneath her again and she opened her eyes to see all her pokémon gathered in front of her. First they looked disbelieving, but a few seconds later they cried out in their joy and piled on top of her with happiness and relief.

It seemed that Ash and Steven were getting the same treatment from their own pokémon.

Metagross near bulldozed its trainer in relief and nuzzled Steven as best it could with Skarmory doing the same.

As it turned out, Mew had convinced the Tree that they weren't harmful and released them.

Kidd had theorized that Mew and the Tree were in a symbiotic relationship, depending on each other for survival.

It was then that Mew fell ill and weak, and all the crystals surrounding them turned bright red and started to corrode away. Kidd gently scooped Mew into her arms and was shocked at the temperature the pokémon was sporting.

"Mew must've disrupted the Tree's natural response to intruders upon rescuing us. The Tree probably can't handle the change and is going into shock," Steven said gravely, "We have to find a way to rebalance the tree otherwise the whole place will collapse!"

"But what about the pokémon who live here?" Hariel asked, horrified.

Steven furrowed his brow and looked at Hariel with a downtrodden expression, giving her the answer she needed.

"And Mew will perish along with the tree," Kidd said, biting her lip.

Mew then released herself from Kidd's arms and gestured them to follow it.

"Mew wants us to follow," Ash said seriously before returning all his pokémon.

Steven, Hariel, and Kidd did the same. Absol was the only one who stayed out other than Pikachu.

No one noticed Meowth disappear.

* * *

Mew led them to another chamber before collapsing again. Thankfully Kidd caught the legendary in time.

"Huh? Could it be? These are Sir Aaron's gloves!" Lucario gasped before turning to a blurred entity trapped in crystal.

Sensing with his Aura, he confirmed the question on everyone's mind. The person entombed in the crystal was Sir Aaron.

"So Hariel was right. After sealing Lucario in the staff, Sir Aaron came to this chamber…but why?" Kidd asked.

"This must be the heart of the Tree," Steven theorized.

"Hey! A Time Flower!" Ash said before activating the said Time Flower Pikachu had found nearby.

The Time Flower revealed the fact that Sir Aaron had gave his Aura to Mew so that the Legendary would have enough power to stop the war and save the kingdom.

"Sir Aaron sacrificed himself to save the Kingdom. So he was a hero after all," Kidd said with awe.

Hariel looked at the entombed man with admiration. Despite knowing that he probably would not make it out alive, he went anyways.

It reminded her of the time where she willingly gave herself up to Voldemort so his last Horcrux, herself, could be destroyed and a chance to truly defeat Voldemort would become possible.

"Forgive me, Master! I should have never doubted you!" Lucario apologized, closing his eyes in pain.

Hariel had been right. There was no way a kind person like Sir Aaron could just suddenly up and "betray" him for no reason. This was why he had left the Kingdom!

"Mew! Mew mew mew!" the legendary cut in, gesturing to the heart of the Tree.

"With the power of Aura, we can save the Tree?" Lucario asked before narrowing his eyes in determination. "Yes, I will help you!"

"No! If you do that you'll end up just like Sir Aaron!" Kidd exclaimed.

"I know," Lucario said before trying to give Mew his Aura, but it wasn't strong enough.

Ash decided to contribute with Sir Aaron's gloves as a conduit for his own Aura.

Hariel watched with a baited breath with Steven, who looked just as worried.

"But Ash, you'll just destroy yourself too!" Kidd said, trying to stop the trainer.

"But if I don't try, think of all the pokémon!" Ash countered and managed to pull out his own Aura despite his lack of training for it.

Together, he and Lucario gave Mew the Aura it needed to revive the Tree of Beginning.

The immense power Mew needed was visibly putting a strain on both Lucario and Ash.

Pikachu looked at his trainer with worry as Ash gritted his teeth in pain.

Lucario looked at Ash before pushing him out of the way.

"Lucario? What are you doing?!" Ash demanded.

"I'll handle the rest of this!" Lucario stated with determination.

Hariel made her decision then. She couldn't just stand back and watch, not when she had power to contribute as well.

Pushing Lucario out of the way, Hariel took up the mantle and shoved all her magic into the giant sphere of Aura surrounding Mew, making the legendary look at her with surprise as the sphere near tripled in size with the sheer amount of power Hariel was channeling.

"Hariel, what are you doing?!" Lucario demanded just as Ash had done before and tried to take his place back, but with a wave of her hand, Lucario was repelled from getting close.

"People always told me I had a people saving thing," Hariel let out a strained laugh, "I guess it extends to pokémon now too."

The amount of magic she needed to give was quite a bit, but she had plenty to give. After becoming the Master of Death, she noticed that her magic was much more potent and powerful than before.

She would not die from this.

It took all of Steven's willpower to not to pull Hariel away, but at that moment, he couldn't be prouder of the woman. She was truly one of a kind.

He felt a nudge from his side from Absol. The pokémon was feeling the same way he was.

Letting out a grunt, Hariel gave Mew even more of her magic and life force. What was 30‑50 years of her life shaved off when wizards lived to be about 150 anyways?

Soon Mew broke the connected and went to the heart of the Tree and began the revival process.

Feeling faint from the incredible drain, Hariel fell back…only for Steven to immediately catch her and cradle her in his arms.

"I'm so proud of you Hariel," Steven said with relieved shining eyes.

Other than immense exhaustion, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the woman.

Hariel smiled at him and took the time to rest. The changes were immediate and soon the Tree of Beginning was back to perfect health. One could even dare to say that the Tree was even healthier than before.

If Hariel would ever decide to return, she would find out that the Tree of Beginning now considered her a part of the great ecosystem due to her magic and life force powering the heart of the Tree.

Hariel was glad to see that Kidd had decided not to publish anything about the Tree of Beginning, not wanting it to be ruined by tourists and researchers.

Lucario sighed in relief and sat down, accidentally activating another Time Flower as he did so.

Everyone was stunned as they took in Sir Aaron's last moments.

They watched as the man grunted in pain and sit down.

 _"Lucario, forgive me,"_ Sir Aaron said.

"I do, Master," Lucario replied tearfully.

 _"You have to understand. I had to seal you inside the staff. I knew that if I didn't, you'd follow me here and suffer the same fate,"_ Sir Aaron confessed. _"I only wish you could have known the real story…"_

"I understand!" Lucario said, looking at Sir Aaron with wide eyes.

 _"Someday you will be released in a more peaceful and distant time,"_ Sir Aaron continued. _"What will it be like? I wonder if—Nghhh ughh…"_

It was hard to see such a heroic man be in pain, but out of respect, they never strayed their eyes away.

 _"I have no regrets,"_ Sir Aaron said with a soft smile. _"My journey has been great. I had served a beautiful queen, and you and I shared many adventures! …Those memories will always be with me."_

With that said, the man laid back with a bigger smile while Lucario teared up even more at the image.

"Master, if you could only hear me!" Lucario cried. "I want to tell you…how much you mean to me!"

 _"Lucario…farewell,"_ Sir Aaron said peacefully, _"You were more to me than just my student…you were my closest friend."_

"I feel the same," Lucario admitted truthfully and happily.

 _"Who knows? It could be…one day…we will see each other again,"_ Sir Aaron said, a tear sliding down his cheek. _"I hope so…_ _ **my friend**_ _."_

Lucario gasped as tears continued to slide down his cheek.

Hariel teared up as well, feeling Lucario's strong emotions coupled with her own heartfelt reaction to Sir Aaron's final moments.

Steven's eyes were a bit glassy as well. Hell, everyone's were.

"Sir Aaron! I'm sorry I failed you!" Lucario cried but Ash denied that statement.

"That's not true! You proved that you were a true Aura Guardian like Sir Aaron!" Ash said fiercely.

"Pikachu Pika!"

"Absol sol!"

"We all know that if I had never been here, you still would have been _enough_ to save the Tree," Hariel said and everyone nodded.

"Thank you, Ash, Hariel," Lucario nodded before looking sadly at Sir Aaron's entombed body.

"At the very least, I can put him to rest," Hariel said before she waved her hand at Sir Aaron.

Sir Aaron's crystal tomb glowed before reforming as an orb of light. The orb bobbed slightly for a moment before shooting up into the core of the tree where it would travel up until it hit the heavens.

"What did you do?" Steven asked, worried.

"I released Sir Aaron's soul. He is at peace now…I'm sure you will meet again. Though…those who leave us are never truly gone. A part of them lives with us forever," Hariel said, smiling.

"A part of them?" Lucario asked.

"Yes. The memories you two share could never be forgotten. As long as you remember Sir Aaron, he will always be right here," Hariel said, placing a hand over Lucario's heart, "in your heart."

"In my heart...," Lucario said with awe.

Hariel then closed her eyes and succumbed to slumber.

"AH! Hariel! Is she okay?" Ash panicked.

"She's fine," Steven said, caressing her face. "She's just exhausted right now. With enough rest, she'll be back to normal."

* * *

Once Hariel was settled in bed with an IV drip from the doctor, Queen Ilene congratulated with the group.

"What will you do now, Lucario?" Ash asked.

"As I said, you're more than welcome to stay here at the palace for as long as you like," Queen Ilene said.

Lucario looked thoughtful.

During his adventure with Ash, Hariel, Steven, Kidd, and everyone else, he also remembered the great times he and Sir Aaron had together as they travelled way back when.

"I think I would like to go out and see the world. Like Sir Aaron, I want to live a life with no regrets," Lucario decided.

"I see," Queen Ilene said with approval.

"You're more than welcome to join us, Lucario," Ash offered with his friends happily agreeing.

"Thank you, Ash. But I think I would like to travel with Hariel instead," the Aura pokémon admitted.

"Aww…How come?" Ash asked, looking a bit disappointed, as did Pikachu.

"It's of no offense to you Ash. But when I was down and lonely, Hariel reached out to me and connected with me like no one but Sir Aaron had ever done. I would like to repay her kindness and share much happier memories with her," Lucario explained.

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled," Steven smiled.

"Then good luck, Lucario! I'm sure we'll meet again someday!" Ash said, grinning and not letting his disappointment get him down for long.

"You can count on it," Lucario nodded with a smile.

Hariel was looked better as the hours passed, and Steven, Lucario, and Absol all stayed by her side.

Lucario even got formally introduced to all of Hariel's other pokémon.

Steven then told Lucario about the modern pokémon world, speaking for hours about the different routes pokémon trainers could take. Hariel was currently trying to get all 8 Hoenn Gym Badges so she could compete in the Ever Grande Conference.

Lucario thought the idea sounded interesting and wouldn't mind a battle of good sportsmanship rather than a battle of war. Then a thought occurred to him as he looked at Steven, who was gently holding Hariel's hand as she slept.

"Are you Hariel's mate?" Lucario asked.

Steven looked shocked as a blush crawled up his face.

"A-Ah…not really no…"

"Hm?"

"Well you see, Hariel and I are currently in the stage where we're getting to know each other," Steven explained, trying to put his and Hariel's situation into words the pokémon could understand. It didn't help that all of Hariel's other pokémon were listening as well. "If we find each other to be possibly suitable…mates…then we will start dating—courting—and if that is successful and we feel that we could not live without each other because of our deep love for one another, then I will propose to her and ask her to marry me. Of course, I would not be opposed if she had proposed to me instead."

"…I understand," Lucario said with a nod. "And do you find Hariel to be a suitable mate?"

"Yes," Steven admitted, "So I will be asking her to court with me when she wakes up."

Lucario nodded. Fortunately or unfortunately, Sir Aaron never took such an interest in any woman, solely dedicating himself to Lady Rin. Though the Guardian did have many admirers…

It would be interesting watching how his new Master's—no, friend's—love life would develop. If Steven broke Hariel's heart, the man would be getting a Force Palm straight to the gut, no questions asked.

Hariel woke up early afternoon the next day. The doctor checked her over again and gave her a clean bill of health, but she would need to take it easy for the next couple days.

Steven had caught her up on what had happened, and just like the Champion said, Hariel was absolutely delighted that Lucario wanted to join her on her journey.

"Of course you can come, Lucario!" Hariel said, hugging the pokémon, "We're going to have a great adventure together! After travelling the Hoenn region, I plan to go to other regions like Sinnoh and Kalos! We'll get to see new places and meet new pokémon!"

Lucario looked quite excited at the prospect, having never have left the Kanto Region before.

Unsurprisingly, Lucario disliked being inside a pokéball, and like Absol, would walk next to Hariel as they journeyed.

* * *

Later, when Hariel and Steven were alone, they had a talk about their relationship.

"Hariel. I really do like you a lot, and it would make me really happy if you accept to be in a relationship with me," Steven said honestly.

Hariel smiled and pulled Steven in for a deep kiss, unlike the pecks on the cheek or forehead they had given each other before.

"Yes, I would like that very much," Hariel said, breathing against Steven's lips before they shared another kiss.


	9. Chapter 9

When you're in a relationship with someone else, things were bound to change.

Steven was busy with his work at the Devon Corporation, not to mention his duties as a champion and his hobby of collecting unique stones. He was also doing research on Mega Evolution. It was inevitable that she didn't get to see her boyfriend as often as other people could see their significant others.

But Hariel didn't mind. She understood that he was a busy man, and was grateful of the fact that Steven still took the time to see her when he was free.

He had also bought her an Xtransceiver so they could call each other whenever they wanted.

A relationship like this wouldn't work for most people, but it worked for them. Not only was Steven busy, Hariel was busy as well. She had her pokémon to care for and train, not to mention planning travel routes and Gym Battles. There was even a possibility of Contest Battles…if she ever got over her stage fright.

After the events at the Tree of Beginning, Hariel had taken a flight back to Rustboro city and Steven had taken one to Mossdeep City.

Lucario also had to get used to the sights, and used to being commanded in battle. Before, Sir Aaron pretty much gave him free reign, but Lucario now had to place his trust into her battling skills and follow her directions perfectly.

Though…if Lucario could read her mind and connect it with his own, it might allow him to transition better if their minds were linked.

And damn did Lucario know a lot of moves. Of course it was understandable since he had been training and battling in an era of war, but it was going to take quite a while to remember them all.

 **Gender:** Male

 **Ability:** Inner Focus

 **Hidden Ability:** Justified

 **Inner Focus:** Prevents the pokémon with this ability from flinching.

 **Justified:** If a pokémon with this ability is hit by a Dark Type move, it raises its attack power.

 **Moves:** Extreme Speed, Close Combat, Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, Metal Claw, Calm Mind, Heal Pulse, Swords Dance, Psychic, Bone Rush, Giga Impact, Stone Edge, Poison Jab, Flash Cannon, Rock Smash, Low Sweep, Quick Guard, Focus Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Water Pulse, Dark Pulse, Iron Defense, Force Palm, High Jump Kick, Blaze Kick (Egg Move), and Metal Sound.

Yep…it was going to take forever to remember this move set. Hariel looked at the list incredulously before looking at Lucario, who rubbed his head sheepishly.

No wonder he was able to hold back those legendaries with relative ease.

Though Lucario did admit that even though he knew a lot of moves, it didn't quite mean he used them all that often. Obviously there were moves that he used much more than others.

Aura Sphere being an example as his most used move while Rock Smash and Giga Impact were probably his least used ones.

* * *

Steven sighed in relaxation as he dressed himself in his flannel pajamas. He had just received a call from Hariel, informing him of her upcoming Gym Battle with Roxanne.

This was going to be his first serious relationship with a woman. Of course he had gone on dates before, but he never found himself compatible with any of the women.

As the heir of the Devon Corporation, a lot had been expected of him and had done his best to meet those expectations.

He was obedient and polite and was at the top of his class in school (even P.E.). He didn't drink, fool around with girls, do drugs, or go to silly house parties (he had gone spelunking instead), and he dutifully helped his father with the Corporation.

He had been a good son; was the perfect son to be precise.

He was also an exceptional trainer, breezing through the Hoenn League, then eventually beating the Elite Four and the Champion, who was his best friend Wallace at the time.

When his father expressed interest in him marrying someday to give him grandchildren to dote on, he had tried to go on dates to appease him. Though he never dated any of his father's business partners' daughters. That was a disaster just waiting to happen and not to mention, his father wanted him to marry for love like he had done.

Something he was eternally grateful for.

And meeting Hariel had been the best thing to happen to him since winning the title of Champion.

At first it was supposed to be a thank you dinner while sating his curiosity about the woman, but it had turned out to be a date.

He found himself relating to Hariel.

He met up with her a few more times after that, and their first true date was when they had gone to the Annual Festival at Cameron Palace together. It was a rather grand setting for a first date, but it worked.

Then the whole adventure with Mew, Lucario, Ash and his friends, and Kidd happened, and he had grown closer to Hariel. There was nothing like going through a life threatening situation to build relationships after all.

When he thought he was a goner in the Tree of Beginning when the red blob captured him, his last thought was that he wished he could have gotten to know Hariel better.

When Hariel was willing to save Lucario and put her own life on the line to save Mew and the Tree of Beginning, he then knew that Hariel was one of a kind and was definitely a keeper.

Now that they were together, he scheduled in more time to be with her, even sacrificing some time he put off to go rock hunting.

Though Hariel had asked him not to put off his hobbies for her, it just made her even more special to him and he decided to put it off anyways, much to her exasperation.

Steven honestly wanted his relationship with Hariel to work. She understood that he was busy with his duties as heir and as a Champion (though he wasn't doing much as Champion at the moment other than bi-weekly meetings with the Pokémon League and the rare challenger now and again).

For the first time since he began dating, he saw a future of a happy marriage, and he'd be damned to let that dream go.

* * *

"Kirlia, use Magical Leaf!" Hariel commanded.

"Use Rollout to dodge, Geodude!" Roxanne countered.

Lucario was watching the match sharply. They had practiced with him being commanded on the battlefield and even had mock battles with Luxray, but this was the first time he had every witnessed a Gym Battle.

"Redirect with Psychic!"

Kirlia's eyes glowed blue and she redirected her Magical Leaf with Psychic to chase Geodude around the field before it eventually caught up for a super effective attack.

Geodude skid across the rocky floor and grunted in pain.

"Now then, let's finish this up. Teleport and use Magical Leaf again, point blank!"

"Dodge!" Roxanne called out in panic.

However, it was near impossible for Geodude to dodge in time and it took a Magical Leaf straight to the face, knocking it out cold.

 _"Geodude is unable to battle, Kirlia is the winner!"_ the referee announced.

"Good job Geodude, take a nice rest," Roxanne said and returned her pokémon, "You're a strong one. Let's see how you do against my Nosepass!"

The pokémon appeared from its ball and was ready to fight.

"Lucario, are you ready?" Hariel asked.

"Yes," Lucario nodded and stepped out onto the field in front of her.

"My, a Lucario that can use Telepathy? How interesting," Roxanne commented.

"That's not the only thing that's going to get interesting. Lucario, Extreme Speed and Low Sweep!"

Roxanne gasped as in a blink of an eye, Lucario had crossed the field and kicked at Nosepass' legs, tripping and damaging the pokémon.

"Now, High Jump Kick!" Hariel grinned.

Lucario brought his glowing leg up and smashed it into Nosepass' face, throwing the poor pokémon into the wall behind Roxanne and creating a large crater where it had impacted.

"Nosepass!" Roxanne exclaimed in shock.

"Uhh…" Hariel's eyes bulged at how powerful Lucario was.

Okay, she knew that he was holding back during their practice battles but damn!

 _"N-Nosepass is unable to battle; Lucario is the winner! The challenge goes to Hariel Evans!"_ the referee called out.

"I assume I did well?" Lucario asked, looking a bit disappointed at the strength of his opponent yet proud of Hariel's amazed look.

"You were incredible. I had no idea that you were that powerful, Lucario," Hariel said, amazed.

She sent out a mental apology to the other pokémon.

"Your Lucario is incredible," Roxanne said, walking towards the two, "Here is proof that you have defeated my Gym. The Stone Badge."

"Thank you," Hariel said and bowed politely, prompting Lucario and Absol to do the same.

Inwardly, Hariel breathed a sigh of relief. Lucario had been able to follow her directions with relative ease and swiftly as well. This was very promising for the pokémon.

* * *

Steven smiled indulgently as Hariel went on about how amazing Lucario was in their recent Gym Battle and how he was doing getting used to the modern world.

Pokémon food pellets were a new thing to him as well, and although delicious, eating the same thing every day would get tedious for anyone. This was why Hariel liked to give her pokémon human food on an occasion along with adding different fruits, berries, nuts, and vegetables to their daily meals to keep them interested and eating. Not to mention the healthy Poffins and Pokéblock she fed to them often. PokéPuffs were more of a dessert so she didn't give them to her pokémon as often as they would have liked her to.

" _What Gym should I go to next?_ " Hariel asked.

"I would recommend the Gym in Dewford Town," Steven recommended as he shuffled through his paper work. "You can either fly there, have a Water Type pokémon swim you there, or even just take the ferry there."

" _I think I'll take a ferry there. The only pokémon I could possibly fly on is Charizard, but Charmander hasn't even evolved into Charmeleon yet,_ " Hariel said. " _I mean, I could fly there myself, but I generally don't want to be seen. As for Milotic taking me there, I don't really want to get all wet so I'm good for now._ "

"I see. Then I'll meet you at the Port in a week?" Steven asked.

" _Alright. According to my PokéNav, it should take about that long to get there from Rustboro City,_ " Hariel said.

"Don't worry. I'll call you when I get there. I don't mind waiting if you're late," Steven teased.

Hariel's laugh could be heard over the Xtransceiver.

" _Speak for yourself!_ _Meet you there then, Steven. Until then, take care of yourself!_ " Hariel said.

"You too, _**darling**_ ," Steven said with another teasing note.

Hariel laughed again before she hung up.

Honestly, Steven sometimes wished that he could travel with Hariel, but that would mean giving up his responsibilities and Hariel would hate him for that. With the Ever Grande Conference coming up, people were training more for the tournament and the possibility of taking on the Elite Four.

It was rare that any trainer got through them, so Steven didn't get many official challenges often.

Of course, on an occasion, people would challenge him if they recognized him to see where they stood, but despite their admirable efforts, Metagross was the only pokémon he used to wipe out their entire team.

Of course he didn't slack off with his other pokémon, one always needed to be prepared after all, but Metagross was his strongest and oldest team member.

Though that wasn't surprising. Every trainer had a pokémon that they used more than the others and thus that pokémon was usually the strongest, though it wasn't always the case.

But he digressed and looked through his paperwork again. He had finished it early so he could have more free time. He was going to stop by Wallace' gym for a brief visit, then make go rock hunting again before spending some quality time with his pokémon. Then there was his research on Mega Evolution and Mega Stones. Thankfully he didn't have any meetings he had to attend as the Pokémon League was busy with the Ever Grande Conference happening just a little over a month away.

He honestly thanked Arceus above that Hariel understood his busy schedule!

* * *

"So this is a Mega Stone?" Lucario asked, inspecting the stone with awe.

"Yes," Hariel nodded and with a twirl of her finger, the PokéPuff batter started to mix itself.

Before they had arrived to the small clearing they were in, Hariel had found another Mega Stone. She would have to give it to Steven to see which one it was. Maybe she should take up Mega Stone collecting as a hobby. She certainly had a knack for it.

"Someday, we'll find your Mega Stone as well, Lucario," Hariel said with a smile as she whisked the icing.

"My Mega Stone? I can Mega Evolve as well?" Lucario asked with wide eyes.

"Yes. Steven told me of a Professor in the Kalos Region who is the leading researching on the subject of Mega Stones and Mega Evolution. The man had created a recorded a list of pokémon he found that were able to Mega Evolve. Lucario, you're one of them," Hariel said.

"Amazing. Do you think I'll be able to achieve such a thing?" Lucario asked as he set the Mega Stone back into her bag.

This time the Mega Stone had already been worn down to a spherical shape, having found it buried underneath a riverbed nearby.

"Of course we'll achieve Mega Evolution!" Hariel said confidently.

Absol and Kirlia backed up her claims, both having their own Mega Stone. Though Kirlia wouldn't be able to use hers until she evolved.

"Ready Lucario? We're going to come at you with all we got!" Hariel said.

She was going to attempt Mega Evolution for the first time with Absol. She had felt that they weren't ready before, but now she was ready to give it a shot!

Lucario nodded.

Despite his type advantage, she and Absol were going to do their best.

"Alright then!" Hariel said and touched her keystone pendent, "Our hearts are one, Absol! Let our bond manifest and Mega Evolve!"

She had no idea where she had come up with that line, but she felt as if it was the right thing to say.

And she was right, her Keystone and Absol's Mega Stone glowed before tendrils of light reached out from each stone and connected with each other.

" **ABSOL!** " Absol roared and glowed brightly as his formed changed.

All of Hariel's pokémon including Hariel herself looked at Absol's changing form with awe until his new evolution stage was revealed.

"Absol!" Absol said proudly as he showed off his new form.

As Mega Absol, his fur was longer overall, and the increased energy coursing through his body made the fur at the back of his mane stand on end, so that he appeared to have wings. The spikes on Absol's heels and elbows grew larger, and the fur in those areas became longer as well. His sickle-shaped horn widened, while an additional, smaller horn appeared on the opposite side of his head. Absol's tail now had a more saw-like shape, and the oval marking on his forehead was now a rounded triangle.

All in all, Mega Absol looked both impressive and incredibly gorgeous.

"Absol! We did it! You Mega Evolved!" Hariel cheered in accomplishment and Mega Absol nodded in both pride and happiness as well. "Now then. Are you ready? Shadow Claw, let's go!"

At speeds barely seen by the naked eye, Absol charged at Lucario with a Shadowy Claw.

Using Aura, Lucario dodged and delivered an Aura Sphere.

"Jump and use Psycho Cut!" Hariel commanded.

Mega Absol jumped over the Aura Sphere and launched a Psycho Cut at Lucario but the other pokémon just flipped out of the way.

"Impressive! You and Absol achieved Mega Evolution!" a very familiar voice cut in.

Everyone turned to see Steven fly into the clearing on Skarmory.

"I just achieved it today, Steven," Hariel said with a sheepish smile at the praise she was given.

"You look beautiful, Mega Absol," Steven complemented.

Mega Absol nodded, "Sol Absol."

Seeing that the mock battle wouldn't be continuing, Mega Absol reverted back to his original form. Hariel gave her first pokémon a hug for the achievement.

Then she remembered that she had found another Mega Stone and gave it to Steven, who looked slightly surprised before he dutifully scanned it.

"Congratulations, you found an Ampharosite. Quite a find," Steven said, giving the stone back. "I've never seen someone so lucky with Mega Stones. You could make a living out of this."

Hariel laughed.


	10. Chapter 10

Hariel certainly made for a wondrous sight when she walked with Lucario and her Absol, who both matched her step for step.

Hariel was a beautiful girl, and her Absol looked just as majestic walking next to her. Lucario exuded strength and elegance as well. She had turned more than just a few heads as they walked through the port.

He had bought her an emerald feather hair clip as a gift, and it matched her eyes perfectly and complemented her dark silky locks. Today she was wearing a white sleeved empire waist dress with black leggings and knee high grey boots.

With the way they held hands through the port, Steven supposed that the media would find out about his relationship with Hariel now, especially when a reporter had caught sight of the couple. They weren't exactly hiding it, but they weren't announcing it to the world either.

Honestly, Steven would have been concerned for Hariel's safety, but she was more than capable of taking care of herself. Not to mention she had Absol and Lucario and the rest of her pokémon looking out for her. Apparently Luxray was especially vicious when any unwanted strangers go a little _too_ close to Hariel. She had told him of a persistent teen boy trying to ask her out on a date, only for Luxray to come out of his ball and use Discharge on him before Absol could bulldoze the boy over with a Megahorn.

For that, when Hariel wasn't looking, Steven snuck the Electric Type pokémon an extra PokéPuff.

"Steven, is it true that you are in a relationship?" a reporter asked.

"Yes," Steven nodded and shared a glance with Hariel.

Might as well get this over with.

"My name is Hariel Evans, and I'm Steven's girlfriend," Hariel answered.

The reporter looked pleased at the story she was getting, holding up her voice recorder closer to them.

"How long has this relationship been going on?"

"Less than a month," Steven answered.

"Are you collecting Badges, Ms. Evans? Or perhaps you're a coordinator?"

"I'm collecting badges at the moment. I have no idea if I want to participate in any contests at the moment," Hariel answered.

"May I ask your age?"

"I'm currently 19 years old."

"Steven, how do you feel about the 6 year age gap?"

"I feel like there's no gap at all to be honest," Steven said, earning a smile from Hariel.

"I'm sorry, but our ferry is going to leave soon," Hariel said apologetically. "We don't want to miss it."

"O-Oh, of course!" the reporter said and thanked the couple for the brief interview before dismissing herself.

"How long until that gets published?" Hariel sighed.

Steven smiled wryly, "Tomorrow morning?"

"Hmm," Hariel sighed again, "It's fine I suppose. I knew I was going to have to deal with them someday but still…"

"I know," Steven said.

The life of a Champion was highly publicized. They were role models and goals to trainers everywhere. He himself had been a Champion for a few months now after defeating Wallace and the press was just starting to die down. Though with this new information, there was no doubt that news companies were going to pay a lot for any stories regarding his romantic relationship with Hariel.

Thank Arceus that he had already told his father about his relationship. The Devon Corp. CEO had wanted to meet Hariel right away, but Steven diffused that notion and would rather introduce Hariel later into their relationship.

Hariel gave a smile and kissed his cheek before they boarded the ferry to Dewford Town.

* * *

 _"C'mon, just a little bit more, sweetheart!"_

 _"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I'M PUSHING DAMNIT!"_

 _"The head is crowning!"_

 _"That's it, honey! Just let it all out! She's almost here!"_

 _"NGHHHHH!"_

 _"That's it Mrs. Stone! Just one more push!"_

 _"NEXT TIME, YOU'RE GIVING BIRTH, STEVEN!"_

 _"A-Ahaha…"_

 _"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

 _"And she's here! Would you like to cut the umbilical cord, Mr. Stone?"_

 _Steven carefully cut the cord and watched as the doctor and nurses took the baby away to clean up and checkup._

 _"You did so well! I'm so proud of you, Hariel," Steven said, kissing Hariel's sweaty forehead._

 _"She's a healthy baby girl! Seven pounds and 8 ounces!" the doctor said cheerfully and gently laid the baby into Hariel's arms._

 _The baby had beginnings of Steven's silver hair and had bright pink skin. She was swaddled in the customary soft pink blanket._

 _"She's finally here," Hariel said, tearing up as she got a good look at her firstborn child._

 _Steven couldn't describe the immense amount of love and protectiveness he had for his child as soon as he looked at her._

 _She was perfect with her chubby cheeks, soft skin, and tiny hands._

 _Then she opened her eyes._

 _"She has your eyes!" Hariel said with awe. "And your hair…Hey, what exactly did she get from me?!"_

 _"W-Well she has your facial structure!" Steven said nervously._

 _Hariel pouted angrily at him._

 _"And what will her name be?" the doctor asked, filling out the birth certificate._

 _"Her name will be…"_

 _"Steven!"_

 _"Huh?"_

 _"Steven! Wake up!"_

Steven snapped his eyes open and blearily looked around. All he saw was the clear blue sky, an umbrella over him, and the ocean.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Hariel laughed.

After they had arrived to Dewford Town, the two of them found a quiet part of the beach and decided to relax a bit, allowing their pokémon to play in the sand and water while they watched nearby.

Steven had fallen asleep with the calm atmosphere.

"You must have been more tired than you thought," Hariel commented and held up a glass of juice for him.

Steven took a sip and blinked, getting his bearings back together.

"What did you dream about? You were mumbling in your sleep," Hariel said, tilting her head curiously.

"Nothing really," Steven dismissed.

Hariel gave him a curious look but let the subject drop.

He wasn't about to bring up the topic of children only a couple weeks into their relationship!

* * *

Steven sat on the sidelines as Hariel was about to go up against Brawly. The Gym Leader was a bit stunned that Steven was even there, but understood when he saw him stand with Hariel.

"This will be a 2 on 2 battle. Only the challenger is allow to make substitutions. The battle is over when one trainer loses both of their pokémon!" the referee announced.

Steven sat in his seat silently with Absol and Lucario beside him.

"Let's go, Machop!" Brawly called out, releasing the small but muscled pokémon.

"Machop?" Hariel asked and pulled out her pokédex.

" **Machop, the Superpower Pokémon. Machop have muscles that never tire no matter how much they exercise. Machop have enough strength to throw 100 average sized adults.** "

"Alright then! Charmander, you're up!" Hariel said, releasing Charmander from her ball.

Charmander looked excited as she near smirked at Machop.

"The battle between Machop and Charmander will now begin!"

"Charmander, use Flamethrower!"

"Cut through that with Cross Chop!" Brawly commanded.

Hariel narrowed her eyes as Machop cut through the Flamethrower and got close to Charmander.

"Now! Fire Fang!" Hariel countered.

Charmander's fangs ignited and she immediately chomped down on Machop's hand.

"Machop!" the pokémon cried out.

"Karate Chop!" Brawly ordered.

Machop brought down a glowing arm onto Charmander's head, making the Fire type let go and hold her head in pain.

"Now, Karate Chop again!"

With another powerful hit, Charmander was blown back.

"Charmander!" Hariel gasped as she watched her pokémon struggle to get up.

"I guess that's it, Machop," Brawly said proudly.

"Machop chop," Machop nodded.

"Please, I know you can do it, Charmander!" Hariel pleaded.

Charmander looked at her. Seeing her determination, she suddenly glowed.

"Huh?" Hariel widened her eyes.

"Charmander is evolving!" Steven smiled.

About time too.

"Charmeleon!" the newly evolved Charmeleon roared.

" **Charmeleon, the Flame Pokémon and the evolved form of** **Charmander** **. Charmeleon knocks down opponents with its tail, then defeats them using razor-sharp claws.** "

Charmeleon then ran at Machop with surprising fast speeds. A bright jade green aura overtook her claws and she swiped at the other, throwing Machop back.

"That was Dragon Claw!" Steven said with a slight grin.

"Alright, you learned Dragon Claw!" Hariel grinned. "Now Charmeleon, Flamethrower again!"

"Dodge it and use Karate Chop!"

Machop jumped out of the way of the much stronger flames and charged at Charmeleon with a glowing hand.

"Knock its hand away, Iron Tail!"

Charmeleon hit Machop back with Iron Tail before Karate Chop could hit.

"Dragon Claw!"

With a swipe of her claws, Machop was thrown back once again. It didn't get up.

 _"Machop is unable to battle, Charmeleon is the winner!"_

"Great job, Charmeleon!" Hariel said, hugging the Fire Type. "Take a good rest."

"Char!" Charmeleon said before being returned to her ball.

"Let's go, Luxray!" Hariel said, releasing the menacing looking Gleam Eyes pokémon.

"Hariyama, let's do this!" Brawly called out. "You did great against my Machop, but don't think that Hariyama will be an easy opponent."

" **Hariyama, the Arm Thrust Pokémon and the evolved form of Makuhita. Hariyama can send a truck flying with its powerful** **Arm Thrusts** **.** "

"I wouldn't dream of it," Hariel smirked.

"Hariyama, Arm Thrust!" Brawly called out first.

"Dodge and use Electric Terrain!"

Luxray easily jumped above Hariyama and let loose a multitude of electric bolts, charging up the area with a bright yellow glow.

"What?" Brawly asked, looking around in confusion.

"Electric Terrain is a move that increases the power of my Luxray's Electric Type moves," Hariel explained with a pleased look on her face.

"This might get a little rough huh?" Brawly said with sweat forming at his temples.

"Hariyama!" the pokémon nodded and narrowed its eyes at a smug looking Luxray.

"Arm Thrust again, Hariyama!"

"Wild Charge!" Hariel commanded.

"LUX!" Luxray charged at Hariyama and surrounded himself with a bright yellow aura of electricity.

Dodging under the Arm Thrust, Luxray slammed his body into Hariyama's gut, throwing the pokémon back and sent it skidding across the floor. The attack hurt Luxray as well, but he proudly withstood the small amount of pain.

Seeing Hariyama struggling to get up, Hariel gave another order, "Discharge!"

Luxray roared and let loose a powerful Discharge attack.

Hariyama grunted in pain and fell back again.

"Hariyama, are you okay?" Brawly asked worriedly. "Man that is one tough Luxray."

Hariel smiled. All that training with Lucario paid off.

Hariyama managed to stand back up, but looked heavily damaged.

"Let's finish this up, Wild Charge again!"

"Lux!"

"Seismic Toss!"

Hariyama tried to grab onto Luxray when the pokémon crashed into him again, but was knocked out cold.

 _"Hariyama is unable to battle, Luxray is the winner. The battle goes to Hariel Evans!"_ the referee said, lifting up the red challenger flag.

"Return Hariyama. Take a good rest," Brawly sighed before turning to Hariel and Luxray.

Out of all of that, the pokémon didn't take a single hit except for the recoil from his own move.

"Electric Terrain, huh? I better watch out for that next time. Man, your Luxray is crazy strong," Brawly said in a congratulatory tone and held up a badge. "Here is the Knuckle Badge. Proof that you've defeated my Gym. You deserve it."

"Thank you," Hariel said, shaking Brawly's hand.

"Hey Steven, this one's a keeper!" Brawly laughed.

"Indeed," Steven agreed, giving Hariel a smile and a playful wink.

"Well I gotta get my pokémon over to the Pokémon Center. See you guys another time!" Brawly said before he walked out the door.

"That was a great battle," Steven said with a smile and gave Luxray a pat on the head.

* * *

"I am not worthy of being your opponent yet," Lucario said, panting in exhaustion.

After the Gym Battle with Brawly, Lucario had expressed interesting in battling with Steven's Metagross.

The two found a clearing and went at it.

"That was an admirable effort, Lucario," Steven praised. "It's a while since anyone could lay a scratch on Metagross."

"Meta!" Metagross said in agreement.

The shiny pokémon looked a little roughed up, but was generally fine. The fact that he had been roughed up at all was a testament to Lucario's skill and power.

"You're definitely on par with the Elite Four," Steven continued. "I look forward to the day where we can have an official match."

"Wait until after the next Ever Grande Conference at least," Hariel said, huffing a laugh. "Lucario is currently the strongest on my team, even _with_ Absol's recent Mega Evolution. It's going to take some time to get my team up to speed. But you better watch out, _honey_ , I'll be taking that crown one of these days! Don't underestimate me!"

"I wouldn't dream of it, _darling_ ," Steven laughed.

"Let's continue to work hard together, okay Lucario? Absol?"

"Of course," Lucario nodded as Hariel took out her first aid kit and started to spray his injuries with the special pokémon medicine.

He was utterly fascinated with the stuff and had once called it a miracle mist for being able to heal injuries so fast.

"Absol!" Absol said in agreement as well.

After finishing up Lucario, Hariel moved onto Metagross. Though the pokémon didn't need too much.

* * *

Steven had given her quite a few valuable gifts since they had started dating, and Hariel wanted to give something in return.

She knew that the man had a love for rare stones and she knew she was bound to find something of that sort within her family's vast jewelry collection. Her ancestors had a love for gems and collecting them accordingly. Gemstones were widely known to be great conduits for magic, which was why cursed jewelry were so notorious throughout history.

Diamonds were especially coveted because they were the most conductive to magic, making them perfect for protection rings and family house rings. The coloured ones were just preferred because of the different mineral content which made them even more conductive.

Though red diamonds were the rarest in existence and only the wealthiest magical families had them set in for their family rings for the Lord/Lady of the House. The Potters and Blacks were no exception.

Though other magically conductive gemstones were garnets, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, onyx, opals, jade, tourmalines, agates, lapis lazulis, and citrines. Without Hermione, she would have never had known about the subject so extensively. The girl had babbled on and on about the subject when they had first brushed over the topic in Charms class.

So when everyone was asleep at the pokémon centre, Hariel apparated to her manor.

It was a beautiful place, she'd admit. Even more beautiful in person.

There was a lovely greenhouse and a large back garden behind it as well.

But she could explore those another time.

Hariel briskly entered the house with a single flicker of magic to unlock the door and searched high and low for her family's jewelry collection.

She had found it down the hall from the master's bedroom under heavy lock and key, but magic fixed that.

Inside, she turned on the lights and gasped out in awe.

The room was filled to the brim with displays of impressive jewelry and she almost felt like she was in a top notch jewelry store. There was every type of precious gemstone she could ever imagine in the room, and she was only familiar with a fraction of the names on the list. It must have taken her family _centuries_ to accumulate the entire collection!

With no time to waste, Hariel quickly browsed through everything and even looked through her family's records on the gem collection.

That is until she found a display case that caught her eye. Within it were multiple rings, necklaces, and just cut and uncut bright and clear blue gems.

According to the label, they were _blue_ _diamonds_. And they matched the colour of Steven's eyes, so they were perfect!

Then Hariel had the trouble of deciding which one she was going to give. There were plenty to choose from, but ultimately she chose one set in a white gold band surrounded but multiple tiny white diamonds. Thankfully none of them were enchanted or cursed in any way.

Sure the ring was probably worth millions of dollars, but seeing the smile on Steven's face would be worth it.

Throwing on a few protection charms wouldn't go amiss either.

* * *

" _Where_ did you get this?" Steven asked in awe as he held the ring she gave him.

"It's an old ring from my family's collection. Diamonds are good conduits for psychic powers, so my family has a huge gem collection that has been collecting dust for generations," Hariel shrugged.

"When did you have the time to get it?" Steven asked in confusion.

Hariel gave a secretive smile, "I can teleport. But only to places I've been before."

Steven nodded numbly and looked at the ring again. Did she not know how priceless the ring was? The blue diamond alone would be worth millions of yen, probably more due to the clarity of the stone.

He himself didn't even have a blue diamond in his collection, nor a red one either. Coloured diamonds were notoriously hard to come by, which was why they were so expensive. They were more than he would have been willing to pay just to add one to his collection.

But here he was, getting a gorgeous one for free as a gift.

It kind of put the value of the emerald hair clip he gave her to shame, but he knew that she didn't care for stuff like that.

"I—thank you," Steven said before trying the ring on.

Thankfully it fit on his index finger, so he took the one on his left off to replace it with Hariel's gift. Even if it didn't fit, he could have always gotten it resized or just had it worn on his thumb.

"Do you like it?" Hariel asked, looking up at him hopefully.

"Like it? I love it! Thank you very much, Hariel," Steven said sincerely and gave her a kiss.


	11. Chapter 11

With the current events, Lucario couldn't be happier with his decision to explore the world with Hariel as his new "master". Though from what he had gleaned from the woman, she wouldn't appreciate the honorific so he called her by her preferred name instead.

He had seen so many new things, taking in the modern world. He was amazed by the changes of technology and the new pokémon. He had seen many that he could not recognize. Not to mention the delicious food that Hariel fed him. His fur had never felt so silky and soft! Especially when she insisted on brushing him every day. Luxray and Absol and both gotten the same treatment and their fur was just as healthy as his.

But as of the moment, Lucario took in a calm breath as he took in the forest around them.

Lucario blinked when he felt Hariel's hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her, only to see her hold her forehead, as if she was recovering from a moment of dizziness.

"Sorry Lucario, I'm a bit dizzy at the moment," Hariel said, smiling wryly as she unknowingly confirmed his thoughts.

"Are you feeling alright, Hariel?" Lucario asked with worry.

Absol looked up at her with confusion as she swayed again.

"I'm just feeling a little under the weather today. It'll pass," Hariel said reassuringly and they continued on.

Lucario and Absol shared a look before walking closer to the dark haired woman. Her face was unnaturally flushed and her breathing was a bit ragged.

Approximately 15 minutes later, Hariel tripped over her own feet, despite usually being quite graceful in her movements.

"Hariel!" Lucario surged forward and caught the psychic before she could hit the ground.

Hariel looked dazed as she looked at Lucario, as if she was wondering how she even was in his arms. She then closed her eyes in a dead faint.

"Hariel! Are you alright?!" Lucario asked urgently and lifted a paw to her forehead and near gasped when he got a feel for her temperature. "She's got a fever."

 _'We need to get her to a safe location then. Hariel is vulnerable in this state,'_ Absol said.

Lucario easily lifted the petite woman into his arms and closed his eyes, using Aura to find a suitable spot to make camp for the night.

"There's one over there," Lucario said and rushed to the clearing he had found with Absol hot on his heels.

After arriving in the safe haven, Absol gathered some leaves to make a bed for her to lie down on until they appropriately set up camp.

Lucario then proceeded to release all of Hariel's pokémon to help out.

 _'What's wrong with Hariel?'_ Charmeleon asked worriedly.

"She's ill. We need to set up camp and contact Steven so we know what to do," Lucario said calmly.

 _'I'll go find her some berries! Sitrus and Oran berries are great for restoring energy!'_ Kirlia said, earning a nod from Lucario.

"I'll set up the tent," Lucario said, "And I'll contact Steven as well."

 _'I'll make some ice. That should cool her down a bit!'_ Milotic said, having just mastered Ice Beam a few days before.

 _'I'll get ready a fire too, just in case,'_ Charmeleon said and went to go and collect some twigs.

 _'I'll ward off any nearby wild pokémon,'_ Luxray said and ran off.

 _'I'll stay here and watch her while you contact Steven,'_ Absol said and laid down next to Hariel, who looked worse than before.

Lucario nodded and took the Xtransceiver off Hariel's wrist. He had seen her use it enough times before to know how to use it himself.

After fiddling around with a few buttons and using Psychic to push them, a ringing noise sounded through the small clearing.

It was a few more tense seconds before Steven had answered.

" **Hello Hariel—huh? Lucario?** " Steven asked, confused.

"Hariel has fallen ill. We need instructions on how to cure her," Lucario said.

" **Can you tell me her symptoms? That will help me get a better image on what to do,** " Steven replied, looking serious.

"She's having some trouble breathing, her temperature is much higher than normal, and she suffers from dizziness as well," Lucario answered, looking at Hariel critically.

" **Alright. I'll be there in a couple hours. For now, get a cloth and soak that in icy water and put it on her forehead. Keep her temperature regulated. You want to keep her warm, but you don't want to overheat her,** " Steven explained calmly. " **Next, keep her hydrated. Sitrus Berry Juice and Oran Berry Juice works great to help her keep her energy levels up so she can fight off the fever. If you don't have that, water will do just fine. To help elevate her breathing, create some steam. That will help clear out her airway. Now then, can you look into her bag for me? Try to find the red capsule. It contains her medical supplies. Take out everything and show them to me.** "

Lucario reached into Hariel's bag and pressed every button he saw and released all the contents of the capsule.

He laid them out and let Steven see them.

There was a first aid kit, multiple bottles of Full Restores, Full Heals, Antidotes, Burn Heals, Super/Hyper/Max Potions; and another kit full of different medicine bottles.

" **Can I see those medicine bottles please?** " Steven asked and Lucario used Psychic to hold up each bottle for Steven to see. The man said nothing until he saw a white pill bottle with a red label. " **Hold the one with the red label closer please? Okay…let's see here…yes! That's the one. Give Hariel one pill every four hours. Now then, can you activate the tracking module on the Xtransceiver? It'll be the green button on the left side.** "

Lucario nodded and pressed the button.

" **All right. I'll arrive in a few hours!** " with that, Steven hung up.

Lucario then started to instruct everyone on what to do after he used Psychic set up the largest tent Hariel had.

* * *

After settling her in, Milotic made the icy water to soak the cloth in, Kirlia had come back with some wild Oran berries and Sitrus berries, and Luxray came back from fighting off some nearby Poochyena and Mightyena.

With the help of the Sitrus and Oran berry juice that Charmeleon helped Kirlia squeeze, they managed to get some fever medication into her.

Once the cloth was wrung out, Absol carefully set the cloth onto Hariel's forehead. Over her body, Milotic and Charmeleon carefully created some steam.

It was a tense next few hours while they waited for Steven and cared for Hariel.

Lucario and Kirlia also used Heal Pulse on Hariel to make her more comfortable. While it didn't heal humans like it did pokémon, Heal Pulse had a soothing effect and it certainly did help maintain Hariel's comfort.

"I'm here," Steven said, coming into the tent at last.

He took in the sight of all of Hariel's pokémon surrounding her, though Milotic barely managed to squeeze in and had to keep her tail outside of the tent so they wouldn't crown Hariel too much.

Lucario watched as Steven then knelt beside Hariel's ill form, pulling the hair out of her face.

"Don't worry. This just seems like your typical run-of-the-mill fever. She'll recover within a day or two," Steven said, giving some relief to the pokémon. "Now, we need to get her to eat. A smoothie of Oran Berries should do nicely so I'll make that. I've also brought over some of Hariel's favourite miso soup with tofu. It'll help give her the nutrients she needs to get better. So Charmeleon, Kirlia, can you heat it up for me?"

 _'Of course!' 'Yes!'_ Charmeleon and Kirlia said and dashed off with the container of soup.

"Now then, I'm sure that Hariel keeps a blender in her capsule," Steven said, searching through the bag and found the one labeled for Camping and Cooking supplies. He found the blender, but also found that the electrical charger was low on power. "Luxray, can you come outside with me to charge this up? I'm sure you've done it many times."

Luxray nodded and followed Steven out of the tent.

Lucario followed as well, observing what everyone was doing.

Kirlia held up a pot with the soup over the campfire that Charmeleon had made earlier with Psychic and had a spoon in a constant stirring motion as to not burn the tofu within the soup.

A little ways away, Luxray charged up the charger as Steven loaded the blender with Oran Berries and a couple slices of Sitrus berries. He also added in a couple of ice chunks to make the smoothie smoother.

A loud whirring noise sounded out before it came to a stop. Lucario watched as Steven put the mixture into a cup with a straw before going back into the tent.

Once the soup was hot enough, Kirlia and Charmeleon also retreated back into the tent as well.

After getting some food and more medicine into Hariel and letting her rest, Steven took the time to instruct the pokémon on what to do if a situation like this ever happened again.

Humans were just as prone as getting sick as pokémon. When times were tough, pokémon looked to their trainer for guidance and leadership. But there are times when the trainer are the ones that needs help, so it's up to the pokémon to care for their trainer until they are able to take back their leadership role.

They made the right choice of contacting him when they didn't know what to do, but there would be times where he wouldn't be readily available.

Steven taught them on what medicine to use for fevers and the different foods they could use to bring Hariel's energy back up like the Oran and Sitrus berries. He taught them to help Hariel keep comfortable by wiping the sweat off her face, neck, and arms if she was too hot, and how to bundle her up if she was too cold.

If she had a running nose, they should give her tissues to help clean her nose as well as to let her breath in steam to clear up her sinuses. It helped with labored breathing as well.

Hydration was also a key component. Water and Juice worked best, but one should avoid things like milk because dairy products were harder to digest.

If she refused to drink, then try creating a Popsicle out of juice or have her suck on some ice chips. They would help keep her hydrated without overwhelming her with an abundance of liquids.

Soft foods were also best. So soups like miso soup or congee were best and easily digestible. A vegetable soup would be great too if they made sure to boil the veggies until they were soft and easier to eat. When Hariel got better, Lucario and Kirlia would ask her to teach them how to make such things as they would have the easiest time doing it.

Finely cut fruit and fruit smoothies were also great alternatives. Hariel had enjoyed the smoothie greatly.

* * *

For the first time, Hariel was not there to feed them on schedule, so the pokémon had to feed themselves.

Releasing the contents of the food capsule, other the containers full of fruit, vegetables, spices, and other cooking ingredients Hariel used, the pokémon saw large plastic tub containers of various colours. Within each container were the food pellets they ate every day, although whose was who's was anyone's guess. And they couldn't read the labels on the containers either. They had only learned to recognize key symbols like Pokémon Centers and PokéMarts, but never actual words.

When Lucario spotted Charmeleon sneaking at the basket of PokéPuffs, he slapped the offending claw away.

Charmeleon pouted at him but backed off nonetheless.

After much trial and error, they had figured out which coloured containers held whose pellets.

With the help of Kirlia's and Lucario's Psychic, they filled each bowl appropriately.

In a different container, they saw pokéblock of various colours in sections, allowing them to add a few of their favourite ones to their food dish.

For dessert, Lucario made sure that they only had _one_ PokéPuff maximum, knowing how much of a glutton everyone except Absol could be about the treat.

Not long after everyone finished assembling their dinner, Steven stepped out of the tent.

"Great, it seems like everyone has got a good handle on what to do," he said, looking proud before giving a look at Charmeleon. "Now Charmeleon, I know that Hariel doesn't feed you that much at dinner."

Everyone looked to see Charmeleon adding more pellets and pokéblock to her food bowl.

"Overeating isn't healthy," Steven said and took the bowl from the Fire Type, returning some of the pokéblock and pellets back to their respective containers much to Charmeleon's chagrin. "Hariel keeps you all on a strict diet for a reason. Overeating can make you fat, but undereating is also detrimental to your health. She always carefully measures how much you need based on your weight, type, and how much exercise you've had that day."

All of Hariel's pokémon shared a look. They didn't know that Hariel had put that much thought into their dietary needs. It was true that they all got different things inside their pellets having watched her make them often, not to mention Hariel _did_ feed them a couple Poffins or a PokéPuff after an intense training session or a grueling battle as a reward.

"There you go, that's should be good," Steven said and gave the bowl back to Charmeleon with the appropriate amount of food.

Having observed Hariel many times, Lucario figured that Steven had probably picked up on approximately how much each of them ate.

After dinner where Steven joined them with a sandwich he had packed earlier, the Champion helped the pokémon set up their sleeping mats to settle down for the night as well as any blankets they might need.

Steven had opted to sleep inside the tent with Hariel while everyone else would sleep outside. It was a beautiful night without a single cloud in the sky.

* * *

The next morning, Hariel was feeling a lot better. Her pokémon were thrilled with the progress her condition made despite the fact that she, as ordered by Steven, would not be allowed to travel for at least another day.

But at least with Hariel conscious, she was able to instruct Kirlia and Lucario on how much everyone should be eating and how to prepare a simple congee dish.

During breakfast, Lucario turned to see a female Eevee peeking at their group from behind a tree.

From where he was sitting, Lucario could hear the rumbles her stomach.

"Are you hungry?" Lucario asked, already knowing the answer.

Eevee gave a hesitant nod.

"I will ask Hariel for some food. Don't worry, she's very kind," Lucario said.

Eevee looked a bit braver and stepped close to Lucario, catching the attention of everyone in the clearing.

"My, an Eevee," Steven said with a smile. "What's this little one doing out here?"

"She's hungry," Lucario answered. "Hariel, may she have some food?"

Hariel was bundled up in a blanket with a bowl of hot congee in her hands. Steven was beside her, eating the same thing for breakfast.

"Of course," Hariel said with a smile and looked at Steven, who gave her a nod.

The Champion put his bowl on the ground and stood up. He gathered up some of the Sitrus berries and Oran berries they had found earlier for Hariel's consumption in a cloth and walked over to Eevee, who looked at the man nervously but didn't back away thanks to Lucario's reassuring look.

Steven set the berries in down in front of Eevee and backed off. Eevee happily dug into the meal.

" **Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. Eevee is rarely seen, and can adapt to severe habitats by evolving, changing its capabilities and form.** "

"Wow, they have so many different evolution variations!" Hariel said, looking at Eevee with amazement after checking out the different forms of Eeveelutions.

All of them were gorgeous in their own way.

"Yes. They're very popular Pokémon," Steven said.

After Eevee finished her berries, she trotted over to Hariel with a curious look.

"Hello there, Eevee," Hariel said with a gentle smile.

"Eevee!" Eevee cheerfully replied back.

"I'm glad you're not hungry anymore. Would you like a PokéPuff for dessert?" Hariel asked, picking up her basket of premade PokéPuffs and holding it out.

The sweet smell and the colourfulness of the treats intrigued the pokémon.

"You can pick any one you like," Hariel offered.

With her tail, Eevee pointed at the pink one.

Hariel picked the chosen PokéPuff up and set it in front of Eevee, who took a bite before her eyes sparkled with joy.

"I think you have another fan of your cooking," Steven smiled and kissed the side of Hariel's head.

Hariel smiled in joy.

Eevee then looked around at all the other pokémon in the clearing before setting its eyes on Absol. The Normal type widened her eyes at the sight of such a handsome pokémon. His white fur shined in the sun without a visible odd tuft or tangle in sight, his claws were sharp and shiny, and his overall confident and calm aura enchanted her.

Lucario blinked. He did not expect Eevee to gain an infatuation with Absol.

It sort of reminded him of the other day when a trainer's Flaaffy gained an infatuation on him. Of course, he was not interested and a pokémon battle had ensued…with him winning of course.

Lucario said nothing, but could sense the Eevee following them the next day after Steven had left. The Evolution pokémon had stayed with them for the duration of Hariel's resting period.

Eevee had spent nearly the entire time in Hariel's lap while she watched Absol and Milotic spar with each other as Absol had great offense, while Milotic had excellent defense. The two worked brilliantly together.

Absol didn't say anything, but Lucario was sure that the other noticed as well.

Then Absol turned his head slightly and closed his eyes before tugging on the end of Hariel's shirt.

"Absol sol sol," Absol said. _'Rain is coming soon.'_

The pokémon gestured his head towards the clear blue sky.

"I see. Rain, hm?" Hariel mused. "From the looks of it, it won't be coming for another couple hours. We should make it to the town by then. According to the Hoenn guide and Steven, there's a great pharmacy and farmer's market up ahead. It'll be a good time to stock up on some supplies. That Oran Berry smoothie has really grown on me."

Absol nodded and they continued walking.

* * *

"Wow, this pharmacy has everything we need and then some!" Hariel said, looking at all the different medications and vitamins available. She then picked up a bottle with a thunder bolt symbol on the label. "Helps regulate an electric type pokémon's voltage? Great! This will be perfect for Luxray. I've read that sometimes electric type pokémon like Luxray can get overcharged with electricity and get sick from it. It hasn't happened yet but it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

With that, she placed the bottle into her basket. Lucario was already holding another basket full of vitamins, nutrient supplements, and potions.

After racking up quite an impressive bill at the cash register, Hariel happily left the pharmacy with her purchases with even Absol holding a bag up by his teeth.

Once they deposited everything into the First Aid capsule, Hariel then went to the farmers market.

There was fresh fruit, herbs, and vegetables on sale along with Moo Moo Milk, berries of all kinds, and even freshly made ice cream and yogurt.

Hariel eyed the plump fruits with amazement and stocked up. After stocking up on more spices and herbs or cooking, she headed to the ice cream stall.

"What would you like, young lady?" the elderly man asked kindly.

"I would like a vanilla cone with sprinkles, a chocolate cone, and another scoop of chocolate in a cup please," Hariel ordered cheerfully.

The man tipped his hat to her and immediately set to work. It was only a minute later that she walked away to a nearby park.

Lucario was enjoying his cone and Hariel set Absol's cup of ice cream on the ground so he could enjoy it as well.

"Are you Hariel Evans? The famous girlfriend of _the_ Steven Stone?" a rather snooty sounding voice asked.

Hariel looked up to see a girl in a rather stylish get up walk over to her. If she was going by physical appearance, she'd say that the girl was around 16 years old. She had hazelnut brown hair that reached her shoulders in perfect little ringlets, blue eyes, fair skin, and was roughly a few inches taller than she was.

All in all, she was a pretty girl. The type to be popular in school.

"Yes, that's me," Hariel confirmed.

"Of course. You're rather recognizable thanks to your Absol and Lucario…and that hairclip," the girl huffed.

Hariel looked confusedly at the girl, wondering what she wanted.

"My name is Cassandra. And I challenge you to a battle!"

"…Right now?" Hariel asked, still eating her ice cream.

"Yes right now!" Cassandra growled.

"I'll meet you over at the battlefield," Hariel said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb at the pokémon battle ground not too far away, "in a few minutes. You can use that time to get ready."

Thankfully they didn't actually have to find a clearing. Just about every town and city had areas were pokémon battles could take place without being disruptive to the general populace.

"Grr…fine!" Cassandra snapped and made her way over.

"What's her problem?" Hariel huffed.


End file.
